"The owners didn't even care until the situation was politicized" - Stephen A. Smith blasts NFL owners for blacklisting Colin Kaepernick out of concern for their pockets 

Colin Kaepernick is back at the forefront of the NFL news cycle this week as he continues to post training videos and discuss his desire to return to the league. But as fans know, the situation is complicated.

The consensus is that NFL owners colluded against the quarterback to keep him out of the league following his kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith had a passionate take on this matter and did not hold back:

"Colin Kaepernick’s different. Because Colin Kaepernick took a political stance. And what happened was, the owners didn't even care until the situation was politicized, and it was turned into something that it was not. And that you had folks all over the country, primarily white, who stood up in the millions and was ‘saying wait a minute. It's about our country and Patriotism.’ And they said ‘The hell with that. We will not patronize this product.’ "

Smith then makes the shocking point that NFL owners made $246 million but seemingly took it out on the player for not letting them make even more. That appears to be the unfortunate truth. Smith continued his passionate rant, saying:

"Remember Molly when you came on the air with us two years ago? And you pointed out how the NFL had released some data, we have found out some data like the NFL, even though each and every single owner had gotten $246 million apiece. It would have been a little bit more if Colin Kaepernick hadn’t protested. And they held that against them, even though they will pocketing $246 million apiece. Because that's what they care about. And everybody acted like they were surprised."

Stephen A. Smith calls out owners about Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick at his NFL Workout

Smith discussed how NFL owners treated the quarterback because of his protest. Smith claims that they used the excuse that since the protest wasn't about football, they didn't want that type of player around:

"Nobody brings up the fact that Colin Kaepernick when you took this stance, it wasn't about football, right? And because it wasn't about football, the NFL said, ‘Well, we only want people who are about football.’ And they had a constituency, flooding billions into their coffers who supported their stance. You sued them. You settled with them. So what's the issue with any waiver or anything else if you want to get back into the league? Because you know you couldn't trust them? You couldn’t trust them anyway. You knew that because you sued them. It wasn't a secret. You understood exactly what kind of sacrifice you were making. We know it's wrong. We know this brother's been blackballed.”

The truth is that this same conversation has been had for five years at this point. And while the quarterback could realistically return to the league, he is 34 years old and had his prime years taken away following his time with the San Francisco 49ers.

By now, fans can accept Smith's claim that Kaepernick was "blackballed":

"You sued them. You settled with them. So what's the issue with any waiver or anything else if you want to get back into the league? Because you know you couldn't trust them? You couldn’t trust them anyway. You knew that because you sued them. It wasn't a secret. You understood exactly what kind of sacrifice you were making. We know it's wrong. We know this brother's been blackballed.”

The story does not go away as time goes on. In fact, they only reveal the hard truths about the situation and its consequences.