The Morning Briefing: Sorry, Brett Favre—Colin Kaepernick Is a Failed Quarterback, Not an Activist Hero

Some Tough Truths About Colin Kaepernick

The pampered mobs who have taken over Seattle and portions of other liberal dumpster-fire cities have been flailing about for a leader whom they can crown as King of the #Resistance. The Idiot Dictator in charge of the National Football League and his suddenly woke players seem to want that figurehead to be one of its more spectacular failures, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick hasn’t been in the league for a few years now but the woke mob keeps him in the national conversation. Nike made Kaepernick a constant presence via finger-wagging advertising that transformed him from failed quarterback to martyr, which is probably the job he really wants.

There is a lot of speculation that Kaepernick really doesn’t want to be back in the NFL, he just wants to be the guy who gets to whine about being kept out of the NFL.

The conversation focusing on Kaepernick long ago stopped being about his football skills. The prevailing politically correct narrative is that he was drummed out of the NFL because he was kneeling in protest during the National Anthem before each game. Anyone who suggests otherwise is immediately branded a racist.

It’s a brilliant PR campaign. Kaepernick hasn’t played a down in three years but is still spoken about as if he would be ready to take the field tomorrow. Even President Trump has mentioned that Kaepernick should be given another shot at playing. Clown car driver and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is keeping Kaepernick’s name in conversations that no one really wanted him to be a part of.

On Sunday, three-time NFL Most Valuable Player Brett Favre took the Kaepernick love-fest to a new and ridiculous place:

Brett Favre explains how Colin Kaepernick is similar to Pat Tillman. https://t.co/uY05DbyY7m pic.twitter.com/MqRfegtP4s

— Sporting News (@sportingnews) June 21, 2020

Pat Tillman left the NFL in the prime of his career to fight for his country. He gave up riches and fame to defend liberty. He was killed in a friendly-fire incident.

Colin Kaepernick threw a temper tantrum.

So maybe shut it, Brett.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

I take umbrage with the Kaepernick brouhaha not from a political standpoint, but from that of a true football fan, The simple reality is this: Colin Kaepernick is no longer in the NFL because his football skills diminished. Greatly.

Yes, his rise was rather impressive when he first got to the NFL. He was drafted in 2011, took over the starting QB job a little more than halfway through the 2012 season and then took the 49ers to the Super Bowl, where they lost a tight, very good game to the Baltimore Ravens.

He was OK for a couple of seasons after that but then quickly reached a point of diminishing returns in his last two seasons in the NFL. Here are some raw numbers regarding Kaepernick’s final full season in the NFL:

In the 2016-17 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick was in the bottom half of production for quarterbacks. His 2,241 yards passing ranked 29th in the league. His quarterback rating was also near the bottom of the league. He ranked 23rd in the NFL with a 49.2 QBR.

His QB rating the previous season was even worse, placing him in the bottom third of all NFL quarterbacks.

No one knows for sure if Kaepernick began his protests to deflect from his awful on-field performances. The timing was certainly suspicious and he has seemed more intent on keeping his face in front of a camera as a protest leader than he has on getting back on the field. Face it, he’s less likely to get a concussion during a press conference.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

To sum things up, I will quote my favorite Twitter blowhard, me:

Kaepernick had a precipitous decline in production and QB rating his last 2 seasons in the NFL. He's out of a job because he didn't do his job well. It has nothing to do with the kneeling.

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) June 22, 2020

It really is that simple. He’s a good running quarterback, but not a great passer. He’s out of the NFL because he sucked at it. That’s what people need to bring up every time this “Hero of the People” nonsense narrative starts up.

Colin Kaepernick is no hero. He’s just a guy who played football well for a couple of years.

And then he didn’t.

Kaepernick’s New Rant: Hillary Would be in Prison if She Were Any Other Person

In Case You Were Wondering How Things Are Going In CHAZ/CHOP

BREAKING: A shooting — the second in 48 hours — was reported Sunday night in the area known as the CHOP, or Capitol Hill Occupied Protest. One person with a gunshot wound was in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center. https://t.co/r55VKl9UVQ

— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) June 22, 2020

Bee Me

Democrats Clarify That Black Lives Will Only Matter Until November https://t.co/2XpU4hNatI

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 21, 2020

The Kruiser Kabana

Humans swallowing the rainbow pic.twitter.com/wyKFX0NOtZ

— Perfectly Timed Pics (@PerfectlyPic) June 22, 2020

I’m thinking of bringing back powder blue leisure suits just to mess with people’s heads.

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PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.