"You're disrespecting yourselves" - Stephen A Smith blasts NFL players for advocating Colin Kaepernick's return
When the 2016 NFL season concluded, Colin Kaepernick had no clue he would be out of the league for more than the next five years. After he kneeled during the National Anthem, it drew teams away from wanting him on their roster, but now in 2022, that may change.
Although it's been a while since he's taken the field, Kaepernick is one step closer to a possible comeback. The signal-caller had a tryout on Wednesday, May 25th, with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Colin Kaepernick 'has a scheduled tryout with the Las Vegas Raiders this week' trib.al/27ftLRE
Stephen A. Smith spoke about how NFL players said Kaepernick deserves a spot on a roster and how it's disrespectful to current players.
Smith said:
"I am tired of NFL players saying he should be in the league because I'm looking at y'all who have told me over the years, how elite these guys are, how difficult it is to be in the league. It's one thing to say he deserves a tryout. We've got NFL former and present players saying he should be in the league, even though he's been gone for six years."
Smith went on to discuss that football players who have won championships in the league and know how hard it is to be an NFL player don't realize they're disrespecting themselves by saying that Kaepernick should return to the league:
"So now the thing about the knee, now to say about all because we know he got screwed over, we know that what I'm talking about is you football players who have played in the NFL, in some cases have won championships in the NFL, who know directly and specifically how arduous it is how hard it is, how impossible it is, to be an NFL player. Y'all realize that the ones who do say he should be in the NFL, you don't realize how you're disrespecting yourselves as NFL players when you just say a guy that's been gone for six years should be in the league."
Colin Kaepernick went 1-10 as the starting quarterback with 49ers in his last season
Kaepernick certainly deserves a tryout, but for players to say he deserves a spot on a roster could be a little extreme. Kaepernick hasn't played a down in over five years and has only gotten older. Aside from that, he started to decline in his last few seasons in the league.
In his last season as a starting quarterback, he went 1-10 with lackluster performances. In his second-to-last season in 2015, he went 2-6 while throwing just six passing touchdowns in eight games.
Aside from his recent tryout with the Raiders, Kap had a private throwing session during Michigan's spring game halftime. While things are in motion for him to make a possible return, it seems like his on-field performances will have to blow teams away before they take the next step of signing him.