JAY-Z is hot with Colin Kaepernick for not ‘playing ball’ on NFL’s terms

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Once again, the NFL is pissed with Colin Kaepernick.

READ MORE: As Jay-Z is reportedly linked to Kaepernick’s NFL workout, some issues with the league surface

Many people had concerns about whether or not the NFL’s workout offer was a legit opportunity for the former quarterback to show his best moves in front of the league’s coaches. Even the principled quarterback had reservations about the gesture. And so when Saturday’s “opportunity” arrived, Kaep flipped the script and changed the location of his NFL workout from the Falcons facility to a local high school, in a move that gave him more control over the narrative.

That move didn’t sit well with the league, Sports Illustrated reports.

Earlier in the week, Kaepernick learned that the NFL has opened up an opportunity for him to be evaluated by teams at a private workout over the weekend. During this session, teams would be able to assess his readiness to play professionally once again.

But then questions surfaced over the legitimacy of the opportunity after it was reported many of the team head coaches and scouts wouldn’t even be in attendance and no media was invited to capture the moment.

Also, JAY-Z’s name was raised as having a hand in opening up the chance for Kaepernick to be scoped out.

Initially the rapper received a ton of flack not just from fans but also from members of Kaepernick’s inner circle after it was announced that through his company Roc Nation, JAY-Z would be co-producing the Super Bowl Halftime show and also contribute to Inspire Change, a foundation the NFL started in response to public outrage over their mishandling of Kaepernick’s peaceful #TakeTheKnee protest.

Now a source revealed that JAY-Z is “disappointed with Colin’s actions and believes he turned a legitimate workout into a publicity stunt.”

Kaepernick told the league instead that he opted to move the workout to Charles R. Drew High School in Riverdale, Ga on Saturday. A handful of scouts were on hand. However, Hue Jackson, who was leading the first NFL workout, instead returned to the airport and didn’t attend.

“From the outset, Mr. Kaepernick requested a legitimate process and from the outset, the NFL league office has not provided one,” his agent, Jeff Nalley, and attorney, Ben Meiselas, said in a statement.

“Most recently, the NFL has demanded that as a precondition to the workout, Mr. Kaepernick sign an unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues and rejected the standard liability waiver from physical injury proposed by Mr. Kaepernick’s representatives.”

Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk, a site powered by NBC Sports believes that what makes this clause even more sinister is that if signed, it would have legally prohibited Kaepernick from ever addressing the collusion allegation in the courts again.

However, journalist Mark Maske of the Washington Post received a tip from an anonymous source from the NFL that contends that “[t]he employment clause in the waiver that the NFL wanted Colin Kaepernick to sign was related to potential worker’s compensation issues if he’d been injured and was not related to any of Kaepernick’s collusion-related claims, in the league’s view.”

READ MORE: Colin Kaepernick posts video of private workout session with Odell Beckham Jr.

The NFL has responded in a lengthy post saying they were “disappointed” Kaepernick didn’t show up for the Falcons facility 2:30 p.m. workout to show his football readiness.

Kaepernick even wore a “Kunte Kinte” shirt, alluding to the fact that he is not a slave who is willing to turn into a Toby.

We stan(d) for Kaep.

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