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By Rickey Hampton, Editor and Founder of The African-American Athlete
Buffalo Bills running back LeSean ‘Shady’ McCoy made headlines the other day when he said that Colin Kaepernick isn’t worth the distractions that he would bring to any NFL team that he plays with.
“It’s a lot more than just he’s not on the team because he doesn’t want to stand for the national anthem,” McCoy said. “That may have something to do with it, but I think also it has a lot do with his play. I’m sure a lot of teams wouldn’t want him as their starting quarterback. That chaos that comes with it, it’s a lot.
“As a team, trying to win and not have the distraction on the team I just take that as a player… there are certain players that could be on the team with big distractions, and there’s other players that it’s not good enough, or not worth it.
“I think his situation is not good enough to have him on the team with all the attention that comes along with it. I’m sure if a guy like [Tom] Brady, or a guy like whoever is your favorite player… Odell Beckham, or a guy like that, you’ll deal with that attention and play him.”
OK, two things.
First, McCoy says he thinks part of the reason Kaepernick isn’t on a team is because of the pushback from his protest by the league. Now, as a player, and as a black man subjected to the same injustices and perils black men face in America and that Kaepernick is addressing, wouldn’t McCoy think a man being punished by the league for pointing out a truth is wrong?
Secondly, I haven’t heard anyone say that Kaepernick is the second coming of Tom Brady. However, he is definitely better than most of the 96 quarterbacks that will likely be on NFL rosters when the season starts. And, if he was in Buffalo he would be better and more accomplished than the current Bills’ quarterbacks, Tyrod Taylor, T.J. Yates and Nathan Peterman.
And, one more thing about the so-called distractions Kaepernick would bring. McCoy knows distractions are a part of the National Football League. There are always going to be distractions. There are distractions if you are winning, and distractions if you are losing. I can assure you there will be distractions in Buffalo, considering the pedestrian quarterbacks that are currently on the roster.
Chip Kelly, who coached Kaepernick last season in San Francisco, said he was absolutely no problem in the locker room or playing field.
“We heard from the outside about what a distraction it is,” said Kelly, who also defended the quarterback last year when both were still with the 49ers. “Except those people aren’t in our locker room and it never was a distraction. And Kaepernick never brought that and never turned it into a circus. [He] came to work every day, extremely diligent in terms of his preparation, in terms of his work ethic in the weight room, in terms of his work ethic in the meeting room, and I really enjoyed Kap.”
If he was honest Kelly would say that McCoy was a bigger distraction to coach during his tenure in Philadelphia (2013-15) than Kaepernick ever was. After all, Kelly is the guy who traded McCoy to Buffalo. McCoy promptly responded by saying that Kelly doesn’t like black players on his roster, and insinuated that Kelly was a racist.
“[He] got rid of all the good players, especially the good black players,” McCoy said, at the time.
Or, maybe, he just wanted to get rid of you, LeSean.
