Colin Kaepernick, NFLPA respond to arbitrator decision to uphold portion of inappropriate language fine

Wednesday morning we learned that Colin Kaepernick's fine for inappropriate language was cut in half by an arbitrator. The NFL had fined him for $11,025, but it was reduced to $5,512. The appeals officer was Ted Cottrell, who was appointed by the NFL and NFLPA to handle such hearings. Cottrell had a rather confusing explanation for the fine:

Ted Cottrell, who heard Kaepernick appeal, noted there was a "clear violation of the rule" but no evidence that "clearly shows" racial slur.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 15, 2014

We had some discussion in the other thread, with a mix of thoughts on what this might mean. One possibility could be the N-word was used, but the NFL realized legislating intent was going to be problematic. Another possibility is the NFL decided this was the time to crack down on one player yelling at another player after a play. Tom Brady can get away with yelling an f-bomb at an official, but I suppose Kap cannot.

Whatever the case, there remains a lot of confusion. NFLPA spokesperson George Atallah tweeted this out following the fine reduction:

Our union is disappointed that the fine of @Kaepernick7 was not eliminated given the finding there was no racial slur used.

— George Atallah (@GeorgeAtallah) October 15, 2014

Colin Kaepernick spoke with the media during the open locker room session, and had his own thoughts:

Kaepernick: "If you're going to say I used a racial slur and come back and say I didn't say it, then I don't know what I'm being fined for."

— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoCSN) October 15, 2014

Kap later posted a photo on Instagram, with the caption, "The face you make when the NFL says you didn't use a racial slur and still fines you $5500? *shrugs* back to my grind!"

The whole thing is bizarre and confusing, and these comments all make it clear that I'm not the only one confused by the whole situation.