The Alliance of American Football targeted two popular former NFL quarterbacks. But neither has agreed to join the upstart league.
Both Colin Kaepernick and Tim Tebow were on the new league’s radar, AAF co-founder Bill Polian said (via The Athletic’s Lindsay Jones, on Twitter).
AAF CEO Charlie Ebersol spoke with Kaepernick about the ex-49ers quarterback’s interest of playing in the league, Polian said. It’s unclear how far these discussions progressed, but the 31-year-old passer is obviously not on an AAF roster.
Kaepernick may have wanted an unrealistic contract to join the league, with the Associated Press’ Barry Wilner reporting the former Super Bowl starter sought at least $20MM to play in the eight-team, 10-game league. At least one of the conversations between the AAF and Kaepernick occurred during the league’s developmental stages, Wilner adds.
AAF players do not earn million-dollar salaries; the startup league’s standard deal is three years, $250K. A payment in the $20MM stratosphere would have been obviously untenable for the new league.
Polian spoke with Tebow, who is currently in the New York Mets’ minor league system, but the former Heisman Trophy winner declined to join the league. Orlando Apollos coach Steve Spurrier also gauged Tebow’s interest in joining the AAF.
The AAF began its first season last weekend. Embroiled in a high-profile grievance against the NFL, Kaepernick has not played organized football since the 2016 season. Tebow has not taken any regular-season snaps since 2012.
Mentioned in most cases when lesser quarterbacks have been signed by NFL teams over the past two years, Kaepernick did land on the Redskins’ radar before the team instead signed Mark Sanchez and Josh Johnson. The latter was, at the time, affiliated with the AAF.
Kaepernick’s camp has rebuffed NFL settlement attempts regarding his grievance against the league. A trial could begin this month. Tebow, also 31, made his way to the Mets’ Double-A team last season. He hit .273/.336/.399 in 271 at-bats, lacing 21 extra-base hits. The Mets invited their most popular minor leaguer to spring training.
If he wouldn’t play for Backup QB money why would he play for 250k? He isnt in the league bc he got greedy. If he wanted to play hed be on a roster as a backup qb making backup qb money before all this hoopla got blown so far out of proportion. He overestimated his market.
Could you imagine the hit some of these dudes would put on him. I agree with you. Kaepernick is not playing football because he does not want to.
I think he generally has a lot of support within football. I think it’s really just the owners, the commissioner’s office, and a substantial minority of fans that don’t like him.
Minority ??? Hahahah
Yeah, if I had to guess, I’d say 40 percent of people support him outright, another 40-45% wouldn’t do it that way or don’t like the method of the message, but still support his right to, and the remaining are what I referred to as a substantial minority.
“40-45% wouldn’t do it that way or don’t like the method of the message, but still support his right to”
To me that means you dont support him. Even if you only include half of that you include you dont have minority once you add the 15-20%.If anything you are half and half.
You can say hey I don’t like the way you went about something and absolutely still support them
Sounds like you don’t have much experience being a minority Roll…
40-45% wouldn’t do it that way but are intelligent enough to support his right to
I doubt that. His jersey sales are probably zero now. I live near Bay Area and i dont know anyone that likes or supports him.
Yup it started to show in 2016 Kap was a target. Kiko was even open about it.
You need to get some fresh air.
Not y he isn’t on a roster. No team wants there backup to b a vocal or a conspiratorial figure. There’s only like 4 backups who r any good in the league. Kaep and Tebow both could b backups if they weren’t as big of fan or media favorites. That’s a distraction. It’s not that hard to c. Most backups in the NFL r either bums, or rookie/2/3rd year developmental/QB of the future types.
Yet teams continually sign/acquire players involved in DV is that not a distraction when media asks players on the team about it?
Hunt is a top player at his postion. Kap is not. The DV questions will go away after a suspension is served. Kap divides a fan base and the attention will not go away. Anyone who knows football can see this
You don’t think Hunt divides a fan base?
Exactly this and who cares if Hunt is a top player at his position, he still kicked a woman while she was down him being a good player doesn’t change that.
Look at the amount of people that get outraged over kneeling vs DV. Look at how many videos of jersey burnings there are for players who kneel vs DV ( Hunt was not even DV anyways). You want evidence go look at the drop in jersey sales the week the Steelers team took a knee except for Alejandro Villanueva whos sales went up. Proof is all there
I was at that Bears game and NONE of the players were on the sidelines for the anthem, so how could they take a knee? Get your facts straight, since you claim you’re right all the time.
Ok fine protesting the anthem. That changes nothing
Backup QB beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. Kinda devalues that argument. Redskins season was over the second Smith broke his leg. Most teams are looking for a competent backup. Yes some teams roll bums out there in and out of the depth chart, usually cap strapped teams.
If a guy that opted out of a contract and then refused others can sue the league for not getting signed Tebow should as well. They offered him jobs if he changed his position, but he insisted he was a QB…an out of work QB at that.
He’s not suing the league for not getting signed. He’s suing the league for collusion. The act of colluding to negatively affect his market. He could be offered a contact by all 32 teams and there could still be collusion.
Colluding to refusing to sign him, but he was signed and opted out while refusing other deals. Instead of suing the league he ought to sue his former agent and advisors.
Here’s the Archie Bunker version of “he opted out of his contract” when anyone with common sense, that actually pays attention knows that Lynch has said dozens of time on the record that SF was gonna CUT the guy whether he opted out or not.
Not mention he reworked his contact in 2016 to eliminate the clause that GUARANTEED his 2017 contract if he got injured, just so they would play him.
Now, for the other dumb narrative about “he turned down chances to be a backup”. Only offer he received/turned down was while he was still in SF, which was a Trade with Denver, when they wanted him to take a 40% pay cut. Has received NO offers since opting out. Keep pushing thAt false narrative though, cause people actually believe lies daily, even they know its lies.
Again moron he opted out, Fire the agent that restructured the deal to make the situation what it was. Nothing like saying I just want a chance to play like walking away from an actual contract, declining others and then telling this league it will take $20mil or he’ll stay at home for $0 and hope for another chance.
How STUPID are you? That is Serious question. I said he opted out, then GAVE YOU THE REASON HE OPTED OUT. So, he reworked his contract so HE COULD play in 2016, INSTEAD of sitting on the bench STILL getting paid 13mil. That’s hella selfish omg his part, I guess. HE WAS NEVER GONNA BE ON THE ROSTER 2017. How hard is that for you comprehend?? Maybe all of that Wentz Jizz has warped your brain.
Please Find ONE article and paste it here that says he turned down offers to play in the NFL after 2016. Daily Caller/InfoWars/Breitbart don’t count.
Polish actually hits upon a legal argument that I’m sure the NFL is going to make: if you suffer damages (in Colin’s case, he believes he has been damaged by collusion), you must take reasonable steps to mitigate those damages, to the extent you are able to.
By him opting out of his own deal, then refusing to sign other deals when they were offered, because he felt they weren’t good enough offers (maybe they were, maybe they weren’t), he is going to hurt, if not completely torpedo his case.
Again, this is all just legal-speak, not commenting on whether his case does or does not have merit ethically and morally and common sense-wise.
Might be why he took the settlement today something is better than nothing even if it means you sell out for your supposed cause
You’re right about most of your legal argument, another lawyer here. Problem is that this is an employment-related case, so he’s only required to take a job commensurate in the neighborhood of his prior job. Otherwise refusing a McDonalds job would be failure to mitigate. He’s got the right to choose an employer within reason. The other thing is that this is a collusion case that could terminate the CBA if true, that’s his main leverage. That part of the damages doesn’t change if he fails to mitigate.
I’ve been living overseas for a number of years and don’t really feel qualified to comment on any of this Kaepernick kerfuffle.
I will just say, I’m beyond bored still hearing his name every other day.
CK is such a nothing’burger that his Nike ad was off by week 3; maybe 4. Even his ‘base’ could care less about a rich spoiled brat.
tebow started the kneeling/praying controversy he made the muslims/kaepernick mad – they both should kneel together in solace
He started by sitting not kneeling/praying. He was sitting upset that he lost his starting job, the cause got behind him and provide a facade for it all as opposed to the thought he got in front of the cause. He never offered his time or money previously in all the years he was a pro.
Kaep is better than 99% of the backups and better than the 3 QBs the Redskins used to replace Smith, Lamar Jackson, Bortles, Winston, Rosen, and Keenum. Not to mention he has a net worth of 20M absolutely no reason for him to play for 250K for 3 years. I say let him continue whatever he’s doing with his post playing career and be done talking about him.
LOL you tell me “i dont know how football works” then you come out and post garbage like this. Lamar and Rosen just got in the leauge and even if Kap is better than them (which is not even true) why would their teams give a 31 yr old playing time over their 1st round picks. Rosen getting a win @ Green Bay and Lamar going 5-1 and even getting killed in the playoffs is good development. Kap never had a season as good as Keenum in 2017 and there no way he is better after not playing for 2 years. No one has disputed he is good enough to be a backup so your also delusional as well i can see
Lmao don’t come at me if you don’t know your from you’re. Lamar fumbles way way too much and I’m not talking about just the playoffs, he can’t throw to save his life the definition of a running QB. Rosen was near the bottom in TD passes, tied for 3rd most INTs, had the worst QB rating in the league. Case Keenum’s 2017 3547 yards, 22 TDs 7 INTs, Kaep in 2013 3197 yards 21 TDs 8 INTs along with 524 rush yards and 4 TDs I’d say that’s a better season.
So less passing yards, TDs, and more interceptions is a better season LOL. Rushing yards dont mean a thing. Its QB not RB. Keenum was an extremely good player last year and a much better passer than Kap. You know when you bring up grammar you have no argument. Imagine thinking a rookies first season is exactly who they are. Guess you didn’t follow Wentz, Goff and Trubisky. Guys like Rosen and Darnold are nothing close to finished products.
OH NO not 1 fewer TD and 1 more INT, Kap is not a 1 season wonder like Keenum. I’m not saying Rosen and Jackson aren’t gonna be anything, they had horrible seasons rookie or not. Going off Kaps final season 16 TDs 4 INTs I have no doubt he would’ve had a better season than both and it would’ve helped them to sit a year and watched. Not gonna argue with someone that has the football IQ of a 3 year old have a good night
LOL here he goes with football IQ. Talk about football IQ all you want. A team wont win with Kap as their starter unless he magically could play like he was 7 years younger. You are arguing for best case scenario a C category QB. You are not fooling anyone TSolid coming at me with the exact same arguments as him what a coincidence. Guess they banned the old account for being a racist. Here is a stat for you. Keenum had the 2nd highest QB rating in his best season. Kap had the 7th highest in this best year. Also tell me how the Patriots dont win the super bowl in even years despite their own banners say 2014, 2016, 2018. But let me guess Robert Kraft and the Pats executives don’t know what they are talking about either.
They do no such thing. People are still walking talking in the corridors during the anthem. You know why? I be done it plenty of times with thousands of other people. Keep dreaming. The same IDIOT posting nonsense on almost ever post.
I be done it plenty of times? LOL, what a f$&@ing moron!
Yeah i really post this on everything. This is my first time talking about kap in a good month. Of course in a stadium full of thousands of people not every one will be participating in the anthem. When you are an NFL employee you are representing the company, not the fans. The NFL cant ban a fan for smoking weed, but a player absolutely. Just more of the usual insults from “troll smasher” because he cant back up his arguments
You’re right and for a person to go by that name is pretty funny because all he/she/it is is a troll.
But Kap hasn’t played in over 3 years! He’s still not as good as these rookie QB’s or perineal backups!
Lamar Jackson is literally CK but with much more turnovers. The Ravens may have gone 5-1 with Lamar, but it sure as hell wasn’t because of hok
Lamar is not that good but he is 10 years younger than Kap so his legs are much fresher
Except Lamar Jackson has a job though huh?
“Kaep” wouldn’t be able to start on the majority of division 1 college football teams. Your comment is plainly idiotic.
Its also funny how he said Kap was not a “1 year wonder”. In reality he was a 1.5 year wonder. Filled in for smith halfway in 2012, decent 2013 and downhill from there. 9ers were supposed to be superbowl contenders in 2014 and finished .500. Then they were flat out dreadful in 2015 and 2016. Kap has not been a major piece on a winning team for 5 years
I’ll say this I’ll never understand how people have a problem with players kneeling when there’s fans in apparel stores or waiting in line for food that aren’t even paying attention. That to me is far more disrespectful
because the FANS paid money to be there. If FANS pay their money, and choose to go get merchandise, choose to go eat, or simply choose not to stand in their seat during the anthem…. they may do so. They are fans. Paying customers. Not EMPLOYEES on a national stage using that stage to prostest a a belief (and a ridiculous false narrative at that…). Example, if I go to a grocery store…. I don’t HAVE to buy “environmentally safe” products or products not tested on animals, I can purchase what I want. HOWEVER, the clerk at the checkstand CAN NOT say “I’m not checking you out or selling that item because I don’t support the testing on animals…”
Understand? your place of employment, ESPECIALLY when it is a nationally televised and well-seen platform, is NOT the place to make your political stance.
Also, fans rushing to get merchandise/food on the crazy lines at stadiums and not stopping for the flag… is still much better than those fans being in line for nachos, RECOGNIZING the national anthem is on….. and kneeling there in line for food in order to show their “protest”
He has never been to an NFL game its so obvious. The employees stop working during the anthem and the people waiting in line have to stand still. He is talking just to hear himself.
^exactly! We seem to agree often…. as long as it isn’t about the Kings haha
Yeah at this point im cool with whatever direction the kings go in. They have been starting to play faster with the passing which has lead to more goals but its not that sustainable. Getting a top 2 pick this year would accelerate the process
I have been to about 20 NFL games and about 200 mlb games and i have never seen concessions doing transactions during the anthem.
I respect both for saying no. Only someone who already has CTE would play football for that kind of money. Reality only two reasons to play football . You have no other options or you would do anything for money.
Tebow plays baseball and was never any good in the NFL. Kaepernick had a decent year or two but is just not very good. He will never play again. He thinks hes really doing something by kneeling. He s just not a very good qb.
If he was serious about playing in the NFL and confident in his skill I don’t see why he wouldn’t play in the AAF for a year. Clearly no teams are considering him and he knows that. Go prove you have some talent left in the tank and see where you’re at with NFL owners after. He’ll never play in the league again because of his attitude
That’s assuming he really wants to play football which is obvious he doesn’t. He’d rather sit at home and be this fake martyr.
The AAF would reach out to anyone that could potentially increase their public visibility so how is this news?
Why isn’t Johnny Football their headliner already??
Probably making as much money in Canada, plus I think this league forces you to come back and play next year regardless of signing with the NFL. So I don’t think any player with the potential to really cash in the NFL will take a flyer on them knowing that.