Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
Don't you just love a good courtroom drama? Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid's lawyer Mark Geragos is building suspense around his clients' case, insinuating that there could be new evidence that will tip the scales in their collusion case against the NFL.Last night, Geragos said that, in drafting Kaepernick's arbitration grievance complaint last October, everything that they laid out has been analyzed and tested and it all looks legit. So, he told Don Lemon to "stay tuned" for a "dramatic turn" because "we were either prescient, or somebody has decided that they were just going to dime out the NFL for what they were doing."
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In that October 2017 Demand for Arbitration, Geragos laid out the following:
The Demand further alleged that the NFL and its owners retaliated against Kaepernick "in response to coercion and calculated coordination" from the President of the United States, Donald Trump.Earlier Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that it had obtained deposition transcripts of Miami Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones from the Kaepernick grievance. In it, Jones testifies that Trump told him on a phone call that the anthem debate "is a very winning, strong issue for me…Tell everybody, you can’t win this one. This one lifts me.” Ross testified that he supported Kaepernick before Trump "changed the dialogue." This echoes information reported by the New York Times when it obtained audio of the NFL, owners, and players meeting in the wake of Trump's comments.It's unclear if Geragos is interpreting these leaks as having come from a sympathizer within the league, or if there is more information to come like ProFootballTalk speculates, that Geragos has a witness that can definitively contradict the NFL's position. Whatever the case, the longer this goes on, the better it seems for Kaepernick.During the 2017 NFL season and continuing to the present, the NFL, by and through
all NFL team owners, NFL employees, and team employees, have entered into and enforced,
implied and/or express agreements to specifically deprive Claimant Colin Kaepernick from
employment in the NFL, as well as from practicing with and/or trying out for NFL teams for
which Mr. Kaepernick is eminently qualified. Respondents NFL and NFL Team Owners
have colluded to deprive Mr. Kaepernick of employment rights in retaliation for Mr.
Kaepernick’s leadership and advocacy for equality and social justice and his bringing
awareness to peculiar institutions still undermining racial equality in the United States.