Myles Garrett, Colin Kaepernick and the No Good Very Bad Week

BY ADAM GREENE

Thursday afternoon Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett learned his indefinite suspension from the NFL for clubbing Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph with his helmet was upheld. This came as no surprise to me, or you, or really anyone with a working ocular nerve who witnessed the event happen.

There were literally seconds left in the game when it occurred. He and Rudolph got into it sure. A groin might have been involved with a shoe nestled into it. Reports conflict. But still, stupid. There’s no way humanly possible Garrett, while swinging that helmet, thought everything would be OK. I mean, what was going through Garrett’s head?

I know what was going through Rudolph’s head; Garrett’s facemask.

The suspension will last at least the rest of the season and likely dip into next year and, if I’m guessing, it’ll probably be eight games. The man clubbed another dude in the head with a helmet. I’ve watched football my whole life and never seen anything like it.

Garrett will be fined an additional $45,623, but I’m sure that losing the six-plus gamechecks will be a much bigger problem for the star defensive end, who now has to find a way, somehow, to make it through the rest of the year on the $12 million plus he’s already collected in his young career. God be with him.

Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s suspension for fighting was dropped to two games from three and he’s coughing up a BMW-sized $35,096 fine. Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi’s one-game suspension was upheld.

THE NFL CONTINUES TO BE MORONS OVER COLIN KAEPERNICK

First off, let’s get something out of the way up front. And it’s something that gets continually lost in any conversation about Colin Kaepernick and the NFL.

Colin Kaepernick, as a quarterback, wasn’t very good. I know it’s hard to hear for people who are emotionally involved in the obvious (and racist) bias against Kaepernick’s activism, but it’s true.

In his penultimate year with the San Francisco 49ers, long before any knee was taken and the only thing Kaepernick had taken a stand for was trying to wear Beats headphones when the NFL told him he couldn’t because of their deal with Bose, Kap was benched due to poor play for his own back-up, Blaine Gabbert. Following the firing of head coach and professional Golden Corrall mens room destroyer Jim Tomsula, San Francisco brought in Chip Kelly and, again, Kaepernick lost his job to Blaine Gabbert after training camp.

Of course, we all know what happened after that.

I say it all the time, but it bears repeating. There are 32 NFL franchises in the league, but there are not 32 NFL franchise quarterbacks on the planet. Of the guys currently starting in the NFL, maybe 12 are franchise guys. Maybe 10 more are capable starters, but that leaves 10 teams that have no quarterback or are trying to break in a young guy or rookie.

Is Kaepernick better than what those 10 floundering teams already have? Maybe. Maybe not. The point is, the reason that Eric Reid, Marshawn Lynch and other players who made similar statements, took knees or, in Lynch’s case, flat out refused to stand for the anthem ever, is that they were good. Legitimate starters, if not stars.

If Kap had never taken a knee, he might still be No. 2 or No. 3 on a depth chart somewhere, but you would never hear his name. When, two seasons ago, the Seahawks worked out Kaepernick and signed Austin Davis, twitter had a little storm about it, aghast. When Pro Football Focus ran each guy’s numbers, this is what they found.

Davis was better than Kaepernick. He, too, is not currently playing in the NFL and has actually joined the Seahawks staff as an offensive assistant.

So we’re talking about, at best, a back up quarterback here.

And the NFL just keeps being stupid about him.

This whole dog and pony work out was a farce, likely stirred by the criticism Jay-Z has fielded since signing on with the league to produce music and “enhance social justice,” which is as ridiculous as it sounds.

In spite of winning an “undisclosed sum” in his collusion case against the NFL, Kaepernick hasn’t actually sued the league in court. That was an NFL Players Association Grievance. Not a court case.

So as they were trying to pull off this workout circus to get people off Jay-Z’s back, the league attempted to sneak in a waiver that would effectively take away Kaepernick’s right to sue them.

He, rightly, didn’t sign it and switched up the whole workout. The NFL made it sound like he’d backed out, but no lawyer or agent on the planet would have let their client sign that waiver.

Kaepernick worked out. A few teams attended. And nothing else happened other than the NFL making a fool of itself once again over a guy that no franchise would want as its starting quarterback, but could probably use as its back up. It’s ridiculous.

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