10 years after the kneel, why Colin Kaepernick’s sacrifice endures | Opinion

Imagine what could have been for Colin Kaepernick.

In a league where Aaron Rodgers is still strapping it up at 42, Matthew Stafford is reigning NFL MVP at 38 and Kirk Cousins is 16 years older than the 22-year-old rookie in the same quarterback room, it’s not a stretch to think that Kaepernick, at the ripe age of 38, could still be a force in the NFL today – if only he didn’t sacrifice his career for a greater purpose.

Shame on you, NFL. Still. If only it was that simple.

“If he had wanted to play football at the sacrifice of his dignity and integrity, he could have done it," Dr. Harry Edwards, the esteemed sociologist and onetime adviser to Kaepernick, told USA TODAY Sports over the weekend.

"All he had to do was bow from the ankles and say, 'Yessir. I'm sorry about that.' Because here’s a guy that’s 6-4, 230 pounds, running a 4.38, and could throw the ball (nearly) the length of a football field. At the end of the day, he could have come back. But he knew that to come back would mean sacrificing a lot of the things he sacrificed for."

It’s been…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/