"The resolution of this matter is subject to a confidentiality agreement so there will be no further comment by any party," the NFL said in a public statement , trying to keep its lack of backbone under the radar and out of the public eye.

The Associated Press speculated that Kaepernick made millions from the settlement, as did Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who also sued the league. "Considering the lost salary both players claimed and legal costs, the settlement could have climbed into the tens of millions," the AP said in a recent article.

Kaepernick's shakedown of the NFL is now complete. He's not only gotten filthy rich off the NFL, but also managed to rewrite history, painting himself as a legitimate martyr of a legitimate cause — and an employable quarterback to boot.

Kaepernick is far from a martyr. In June of 2014, the 49ers signed Kaepernick to a six-year, $126-million deal, but because he chose to opt out of his contract to become a free agent after only three years, he received $39 million. What a hardship that must have been. As Kaepernick says in his lucrative Nike ad, "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."

Sacrifice. Yeah.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told the NFL media in August of 2016. "To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. ... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right."

Ironically, Kaepernick received an endorsement from Nike for his protest, and most likely got paid by the NFL in Friday's settlement.

As for Kaepernick's "cause," this is as sketchy as his Nike ad about "sacrificing everything." Apparently, his kneeling during the National Anthem was about raising awareness for social issues, such as police brutality. Now, what is "raising awareness," exactly? Kaepernick kneels, and we supposedly think about police using excessive force in an impoverished neighborhood and then...what? What do we do then? I know what I do at that point: I watch the football game.

His feigned martyrdom and ill defined cause, coupled with his poor play, translate into Kaepernick being unemployable as a quarterback, despite the NFL settlement. Once upon a time, Kaepernick was an up-and-coming player with a bright future. The latter half of his six-year career is a different story. According to the 2016 Quarterback Tiers survey, which featured input from 46 coaches and evaluators, Kaepernick was only ranked as a "fourth-tier quarterback."

Granted, this ranking may have been high enough to earn him a job as a back-up in 2017, but signing Kaepernick would have come with a ton of extra baggage: the drama and polarizing nature of his political activism. Whether you agree or disagree with Kaepernick on any particular issue is beside the point. The fact remains that his politics has an effect on everything from locker room morale to ticket sales to press conferences to community relations. This added burden was simply too heavy for NFL coaches and general managers to take on, especially in exchange for a "fourth-tier" quarterback. To put it plainly, Kaepernick's shenanigans were simply not worth the investment.

The NFL is a business that operates according to supply and demand, as it should. Each player has a market value and is responsible for protecting this value not only through conditioning and training, but also through being an ambassador of the league. As everyone knows, injecting politics into a product can do irreparable harm to a product's market value and must be done with caution. Kaepernick, perhaps realizing that his once prominent stature in the NFL was all but gone, decided to throw caution to the wind when he began taking a knee during the National Anthem. How much this stemmed from his own ego as opposed to genuine altruism is not clear, but either way, Kaepernick knew what he was doing.

This is why Kaepernick — not the NFL owners, coaches, or general managers — should take responsibility for his lack of employment. The NFL owes Kaepernick nothing.

Yet the NFL still settled with him. Why?

Because those in charge compromised their integrity for political correctness. In 2019, anything deemed "social justice" is untouchable. For many Americans, Sunday football is not a suitable venue for political theater. Today's unending cycle of news forces enough toxic politics down everyone's throat, and a break from the muck is more than welcomed.

But when it comes to "social justice," all the world's a stage, whether you like it or not. Whether you have a slightly different perspective or worldview or not; many people saw Kaepernick's kneeling as extremely disrespectful to law enforcement, the military, and working-class Americans. Folks like Kaepernick are so convinced of their moral superiority that they feel they can intrude on your life at any time or in any place. Never mind the fact that you can still agree with the "cause" even though you don't want the nastiness of politics to stain the purity of an honest athletic competition on a Sunday afternoon.

In the end, the NFL decided to settle with Kaepernick and kowtow to social pressure instead of fighting the phony "collusion" suit. By doing so, the league not only allowed Kaepernick to further damage its product, but probably paid him millions to do it.

Image: Kate via Flickr.