Meanwhile, another major injury to one of the league’s biggest stars threatens to diminish the on-field product. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone, with the team acknowledging there is a chance that he will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Rodgers’s injury came a week after two other standouts, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Houston Texans defensive ace J.J. Watt, suffered season-ending injuries. It also happened a week after Rodgers provided his latest dose of late-game magic to give the Packers a thrilling victory at Dallas in perhaps the most compelling game of the season.

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There have not been enough of those captivating moments this season to keep the anthem controversy from being all-consuming. The NFL can only hope a resolution is at hand. Owners are scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday in New York. According to multiple people familiar with the league’s inner workings, owners are hopeful that the NFL Players Association will support a measure for players to stand for the anthem, which potentially would come in conjunction with official support for players’ endeavors in community activism.

There might be some evidence to justify the owners’ hope that a mutually agreeable solution to the anthem issue can be reached. After all, the NFL and NFLPA issued a joint statement last week vowing to work cooperatively on the matter. How often do these two sides do anything like that?

And yet, the meeting in New York comes amid examples of the more customary clashes between the league and union. They remain involved in courtroom tussles in both Texas and New York over the six-game suspension of Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott under the personal conduct policy. The NFL succeeded in convincing a federal appeals court in New Orleans to lift the injunction granted by a Texas district court that had been keeping Elliott’s suspension on hold. There remains disagreement over precisely when the injunction actually will be lifted and the suspension will go into effect, and at some point the case in New York could become the new venue in which the NFLPA could seek an injunction on Elliott’s behalf.

Now comes Kaepernick’s grievance, which brings to mind a previously unsuccessful collusion claim by the NFLPA in which it alleged that the league operated with a secret salary cap during the uncapped year of 2010. That case ultimately was dismissed in court after it was ruled that such claims expired with the 2011 labor agreement. But in this instance, Kaepernick’s collusion grievance is said to be coming under the supervision of his outside legal representation. The NFLPA said it will support Kaepernick but only learned of the grievance Sunday, it said, through media reports.

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“Colin Kaepernick’s goal has always been, and remains, to simply be treated fairly by the league he performed at the highest level for and to return to the football playing field,” a statement released by Kaepernick’s legal representatives said.

Kaepernick’s grievance accuses teams of conspiring to keep him out of work in violation of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. And there was every reason to believe Sunday that he will remain so, given the postgame declaration by Packers coach Mike McCarthy that young backup Brett Hundley is his new starter at quarterback and third-stinger Joe Callahan moves up to second on the depth chart.

“They can win with Brett Hundley,” former NFL coach Tony Dungy said on NBC’s halftime show of its Sunday night broadcast.

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But should the Packers rightfully be considering Kaepernick, who was born in Milwaukee, or Tony Romo, another Wisconsin native? That is debatable. The Packers are capable of competing for a Super Bowl crown, particularly in a season in which no dominant team has emerged in either conference. But can they win a Super Bowl with Hundley at quarterback? That seems like a decided long shot.

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Kaepernick played reasonably well for the San Francisco 49ers last season. If it were a football-only decision, he would have to be considered. Romo walked away from the sport this past offseason when he probably could have landed in Houston or Denver as the starting quarterback on a contender if he’d so chosen. He has thrived in the CBS broadcast booth, eliciting nothing but praise for his early work in his new career. But would he put his broadcasting career on temporary hold for a chance to play half a season that potentially could culminate in the Super Bowl? Only he can answer that for certain.

The Packers probably will stick to what McCarthy said Sunday and go with Hundley, leaving Romo in the broadcast booth and Kaepernick on the outside of the league looking in. Kaepernick surely would be eager to play in Green Bay; Romo might not welcome such an offer even if it were to be made. But merely contemplating the possibilities here is intriguing. This is an NFL season that desperately needs a reason for everyone to pay rapt attention to what’s happening on the field. Wouldn’t a Packers’ lineup that includes Kaepernick or Romo at quarterback provide just that?

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