NFL Legend Tiki Barber Changes His Tune On Colin Kaepernick

Over the past few years, NFL legend Tiki Barber has been one of the few public figures who actually has had the courage to openly criticize Colin Kaepernick. But, Barber is now backtracking on his attacks of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

In 2016, Kaepernick started the trend of taking a knee during the national anthem before football games to protest against racial injustice. Millions of Americans believed Kaepernick was disrespecting the flag with his kneeling. 

Barber’s Initial Comments Bashing Kaepernick

Barber spoke out against Kaepernick in 2019, when the NFL tried to schedule a special workout for him to showcase his alleged talent before every team.

The workout didn’t pan out because Kaepernick changed the location at the last minute so that cameras and the press could be there. But, most of the NFL scouts didn’t have time to get there since that change was made.

“I almost feel like Colin Kaepernick is taking on an entitled stance right now,” Tiki Barber said Monday on Tiki & Tierney. “At the end of the day, it is a privilege to play in the National Football League; it is not a right. Nobody is guaranteed the right to play in the National Football League. You have to be an upstanding citizen, for the most part. You have to be a good athlete. You have to be intelligent because there’s so much you have to learn. You have to be able to get along with your teammates. All these things that we talk about it takes to be an NFL athlete is earned. It’s not just given to you because you have this God-given talent.”

In 2019, Barber said he felt Kaepernick was taking an ‘entitled stance.’ And, he went on to say that it’s a privilege to play in the NFL, but it’s not a right. 

Kaepernick Wanted Special Treatment

“It’s almost like he wants special treatment, and that bothers me,” Barber said at the time, according to CBS Sports. “There’s so many players who, if everything went perfectly right in their existence, would never get this opportunity to have a full open workout with scouts . . . and here’s my chance to make it. Nobody gets that. Colin got it, and he acted like he didn’t appreciate it. It’s off-putting.

“I commend Colin Kaepernick for what he’s done over the last three or four years, but God, he’s unlikable,” the retired New York Giants running back added. “And it’s frustrating to me because he has so much talent, and I actually don’t want to see him play on the football field.”

Back Story: Multiple NFL Teams Interested Colin Kaepernick – But Botched Special Workout Now Haunts Him

Barber Backtracks On Kaepernick

Many found Barber’s take on Kaepernick to be refreshingly spot on. That’s why it was so disappointing to see what he had to say about the “woke” former quarterback on Tuesday.

“I commended him for his protests, but I thought he was going about it the wrong way,” Barber told Radio.com. “But over time, history tends to correct things that are viewed the wrong way. I think a few months into it I realized my reaction was going to be on the wrong side of history.

“When the racial injustice that was happening in this country became a lot more than a one day story, that’s what made you realize, ‘you know, Kaep is right,'” he added. “Here we are four years later, almost five years later and it’s still a conversation that we’re having, which is a testament to his decision at the time.”

Related: NFL Head Roger Goodell Grovels To Kaepernick Again – ‘I Wish We Had Listened Earlier’

Barber Thinks American Unity Is A ‘Facade’

Barber went on to say that he never felt any kind of patriotism until he heard the national anthem played just after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

However, he claims to have known at the time that the American unity that was being shown would never last.

“The reality is that’s a facade,” Barber said. “There isn’t that continuity, that consistency, that equality, that equity in this country that we like to pretend there is.”

One of the worst things that Kaepernick has done to this country culturally is that he has made bashing America hip and trendy.

And, he’s making patriotism appear uncool and old-fashioned.

It’s sad that Barber has come around to Kaepernick’s way of thinking after he saw right through him in the past. 

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