Colin Kaepernick might have a better shot at proving collusion than initially suspected

Lynne Sladky/AP

Colin Kaepernick’s attorney has confirmed that the former 49ers quarterback has filed a grievance accusing NFL owners of collusion.

Since the news broke, it has been speculated that Kaepernick would have a tough road ahead of him if he hoped to win the case, but that taking the NFL to court might serve other purposes beneficial to his cause, including terminating the current Collective Bargaining Agreement and thus giving the players more leverage in a new round of negotiations.

But according to Kaepernick’s attorney, Mark Geragos, and NFL insider Mike Florio, Kap’s case against the NFL isn’t as far-fetched as many initially believed.

Speaking with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Geragos said he has a “high degree of confidence” that he will be able to prove NFL team owners colluded against Kaepernick.

“I am going to predict right now that we will have a smoking gun,” Geragos said. “There are people who are not going to get into an arbitration proceeding and they are not going to lie. They are not going to lie. They are going to tell the truth and they’re going to say what happened. They were told no, you’re not going to hire him.”

Florio, who worked as an attorney before becoming an NFL insider, recently laid out how easy it might be for Kaepernick to prove his case. Florio first notes that collusion can occur simply when teams or team employees reach an agreement, explicitly or implied, to not pursue a potential signing. the reason behind the collusion is not important.

Florio then posited that finding proof of collusion might not be difficult.

According to Florio, Geragos has already told the league to preserve any digital evidence that could be relevant to the case, and while getting his hands on those documents might be difficult, if he succeeds, all it would take would be one small statement to serve as the “smoking gun” he predicted.

NFL organizations are made up of sprawling networks of professionals, from coaches to scouts to front office management and everything in between, and almost many of them are constantly networking in a league that has a high job turnover rate.

It would not be a stretch to imagine team employees discussing issues of the day in the NFL, and that conversations would inevitably turn to Kaepernick. It is also not hard to imagine that employees from different teams discussed Kaepernick’s job prospects in the NFL.

As Florio puts it, “Even something as simple as ‘we can’t have that’ or ‘he’s bad for business’ or ‘he’s a distraction’ or any other collective coordination among the league office and at least one team or multiple teams can trigger a finding of collusion.”

You can watch an excerpt of Geragos’ appearance on CNN below.