49er Coach Chip Kelly Claims Colin Kaepernick Had ‘Extremely Diligent’ Work Ethic, Never a ‘Distraction’

Chip Kelly, Colin Kaepernick

A report emerged recently, in an article written by the Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer, that Colin Kaepernick’s work ethic was lacking in his final season with the 49ers.

The source for that claim came from the 49ers themselves. According to Breer, “As one Niners employee explained it, Kaepernick wouldn’t stay late at the facility during the season like many quarterbacks routinely do, saying he’d take work home.

“And there were examples where coaches saw what looked like shoddy prep surfacing in inexplicable mental errors in games.”

Another staffer, asked if he thinks Kaepernick wants to keep playing, answered, “I do think he wants to play—to stay relevant.”

Chip Kelly, Kaepernick’s head coach in his last season with San Francisco, shot down those claims saying that Kaepernick was “extremely diligent” and worked very hard during their time together.

Appearing on Adam Schefter’s podcast, Kelly said, “He came to work every day, extremely diligent in terms of his preparation, in terms of his work ethic. I really enjoyed Kap. I’ve talked to Kap three or four times since. I think he’s a really good player and a really good person, and I really enjoyed coaching him.”

Kelly also disputed the claim that Kaepernick’s protest became a distraction in the 49er locker room, “He explained to all the players his thought process and mindset of what he was doing. And there were some players that agreed with him and some players that didn’t agree with him.

“But after that point, we heard from the outside about what a distraction it is, except those people weren’t in our locker room and it never was a distraction. [Kaepernick] never turned it into a circus or whatever people think.”

So here we go again: A sports media outlet produces quotes which call Kaepernick’s work ethic and/or desire to play football into question. Then, dutifully, the media which supports Kaepernick produces someone who will refute those quotes.

Then rinse and repeat.

However, at this point, who really cares anymore? Does it really matter who said or did what last year? Whether his teammates were in support of him? Or whether they hated him? Who even cares about whether Kaepernick has been blackballed? Even if he was, who cares?

At this point, regardless of anything that happened last year in the locker room or this year in the private meeting rooms of owners offices across the league, it should be abundantly clear to all that Colin Kaepernick doesn’t care whether he ever plays football again.

Check out his Twitter feed. Well over 90% of what he’s tweeting or retweeting has nothing to do with football, and everything to do with political activism. At one point Kaepernick even retweeted a guy talking about “slave patrols,” and how they served as the foundation for modern day policing.

And of course, who could forget Kaepernick’s tweet of nearly two weeks ago, where he himself compared modern day police officers to slave catchers:

Kaepernick is doing these things while supposedly trying to get signed by another NFL team. Who does that? Who, after causing one of the biggest and most controversial rows in recent NFL history, decides to take this crucial time when he should be rehabbing his image, and instead doubles down on his antics by saying and sharing some of the foulest, most offensive things you can find on social media?

Someone who knows he’s played his last game of football, that’s who.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.