Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid have settled their collusion dispute with the NFL that they brought against the league’s teams and owners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Below is the joint statement released by Kaepernick’s legal team, which was led by attorney Mark Geragos, and the NFL.
For the past several months, counsel for Mr. Kaepernick and Mr. Reid have engaged in an ongoing dialogue with representatives of the NFL. As a result of those discussions, the parties have decided to resolve the pending grievances. The resolution of this matter is subject to a confidentiality agreement so there will be no further comment by any party.
This means the Kaepernick grievance will not go to trial.
In a 2016 preseason game, Kaepernick sat on the bench during the singing of the national anthem ahead of the 49ers’ preseason games that season. Ahead of the team’s final preseason game, Kaepernick met with Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former Seattle Seahawks player, and changed his position to kneeling during the anthem. Over the next two seasons, the protests grew and attracted the attention of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, who said that the players should stand.
The following season, Trump sparked further outrage at a rally when he called for teams to fire kneeling players, and the player protests grew in response, dividing fans in the process.
Kaepernick was joined by Reid, who was also involved in the collusion case, in kneeling shortly thereafter. Reid currently plays for the Carolina Panthers and the safety agreed to a three-year, $22 million extension with the team this week.
Since his contract with the 49ers expired in 2016, Kaepernick has not played in the league, which led to his collusion grievance that was filed in October 2017. According to the AP, Kaepernick was offered an opportunity to play in the new Alliance of American Football, but would only do so for $20 million.
“We continuously supported Colin and Eric from the start of their protests, participated with their lawyers throughout their legal proceedings and were prepared to participate in the upcoming trial in pursuit of both truth and justice for what we believe the NFL and its clubs did to them,” a statement issued by the NFLPA on Friday read. “We are glad that Eric has earned a job and a new contract, and we continue to hope that Colin gets his opportunity as well.”
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) February 15, 2019
— Mark Geragos (@markgeragos) February 15, 2019