More than five months ago, when the NFL’s tone on peaceful gameday protests appeared to be changing across the board, an unexpected sense of optimism about Colin Kaepernick trickled out of the league office and a small handful of franchises.
A swath of teams had spent a large portion of June expressing disdain over recent incidents of police brutality and racial injustice. Players were rallying across the country and pointing their spotlight toward the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others. Even commissioner Roger Goodell made a statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, while apologizing to kneeling players and promising to rededicate the NFL’s efforts toward social justice.