Jed York: ‘I don’t believe that there’s base to that claim that [Colin Kaepernick’s] being blackballed.’

There has been plenty of discussion about whether or not free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick is currently being black-balled by NFL owners and executives. It has resulted in Kaepernick filing a grievance against the league, and the arbitration and likely eventual court-room process will take some time to play out.

In the meantime, San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York gave the least surprising answer when asked about Kaepernick. York acknowledged there was only so much he could say given the grievance, but he did say, “I don’t believe that there’s base to that claim that he’s being blackballed.”

York has been supportive of Kaepernick’s protest, and that of the rest of the players, but I don’t think anybody would expect him to say that he does think Kaepernick is being black-balled. Even if York does actually think there is something nefarious going on, if he acknowledges that, it’s safe to say Colin Kaepernick’s attorney will be using that quotation in the arbitration hearing.

Proving collusion is not an easy task based on the evidence in front of us. However, part of the reason for filing this grievance is to get into the discovery process. Kaepernick’s attorney Mark Geragos would love to get a chance to go through league emails, texts, voice mails and most anything else to see what he can dig up. I am skeptical he finds anything, but the NFL most certainly does not want to have him going on a fishing expedition.