Former NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick ignited impassioned debates over race, activism and free expression after protesting police shootings of black men by kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner” at National Football League games in 2016.
President Trump tweeted his anger at him and dozens of other players who also knelt in protest during the national anthem.
Some fans boycotted games over the players’ actions, and some boycotted the N.F.L. with the belief that Kaepernick, who failed to land a job the next season, was being blacklisted for his leadership in the movement.
Now, two and a half years later, Kaepernick and a former teammate, Eric Reid, have reached a surprise legal settlement with the N.F.L., which they had accused of colluding to keep them out of the league.
In a terse joint statement issued yesterday afternoon, the league and the players’ lawyers said that “the parties have decided to resolve the pending grievances” and that “there will be no further comment.”
A confidentiality agreement means that, for all the debate and discussion the case generated, it ended with a silence that left hanging whether the league admitted there was any collusion and whether Kaepernick would ever play another down.
Yet there most likely will be further discussion, as people debate whether Kaepernick was right and what enduring lesson the owners and league might draw from the saga.
“The most important thing is he started a really important conversation that we’ve been having for a couple of years, and the people who were willing to have that conversation have learned some things,” said Michael MacCambridge, the author of “America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation.”
He added: “I suspect even if Kaepernick knew how long it would take he might have done it differently. But he took a social stand and he was willing to suffer the consequences of that.”
Kaepernick, 31, who played for the San Francisco 49ers and took them to the Super Bowl after the 2012 season, has not played in the N.F.L. since the 2016 season, when he began the kneeling campaign. (At first he sat during the anthem, but a former player who is a military veteran suggested he kneel instead to make his point while respecting the American flag.)
He filed a grievance under the league’s collective bargaining agreement in October 2017, months after failing to find a job, and his lawyers have been busy gathering evidence and testimony from numerous N.F.L. owners and league executives.
The case seemed headed to a ruling this spring by an arbitrator, until the abrupt statement on Friday that left the sports world guessing on whether the league paid the players and how much.
After protesting while playing for the 49ers, Reid, 27, also went unsigned for a period before playing most of last season for the Carolina Panthers.
This week he signed a three-year contract with the team.
It is unclear whether Kaepernick will continue trying to play professional football again.