Nevius: Former 49er Eric Reid without a job, and suspects why

SANTA CLARA - Forty-Niners safety Eric Reid became a free agent on Wednesday. When the sun came up Thursday morning, there were already tweets saying he wasn't drawing interest from other teams because of his national anthem protest.

By the end of the week, Reid was saying it, too. Replying to a Twitter supporter who blamed the league's general managers, Reid wrote: “GM's aren't the hold up broski. It's ownership. People who know football know who can play. People who know me, know my character.”

If it is true that teams hesitate to sign Reid because of activism, the NFL and I have a problem.

And I don't think this is a Kaepernick situation. At this point we've been through the Kap argument enough times to condense everyone's point of view to shorthand.

His supporters think he is a talented QB who is getting snubbed by closed-minded team owners.

I say he is a marginally talented, 30-year-old quarterback, who, as he became more stridently politically active, failed the old “the bigger pain you are, the more talented you'd better be” test. Kaepernick was probably better than some backup QBs teams signed last year, but they figured if he wasn't going to be a starter, the political baggage wasn't worth it.

And now that he's sued the NFL for collusion, Kaepernick's career is probably over. Filing a lawsuit against your prospective employer is rarely a good opener for a job interview.

Reid, the first player to kneel with Kaepernick, is a different case. A first-round draft choice, he's essentially started for the 49ers ever since he arrived. The team seemed to have a little trouble deciding where to play him - free safety, strong safety and linebacker - but, when healthy, they had him on the field for every defensive snap.

There is no doubt that several NFL teams could use an experienced 26-year-old former Pro Bowl safety.

The thing is, that's not even the point. If Reid is being judged for his political stance, I've lost all faith in the league's judgment and common sense.

Simply put, Reid is exactly the kind of professional athlete we want to lead this discussion. I could say he is smart and articulate, but it might only come across as sour grapes. After all, last fall he wrote a column for the New York Times, which is something I've only aspired to for over 30 years.

The Times piece, which is pinned at the top of Reid's Twitter feed, is worth reading. It isn't just a thoughtful breakdown of why he and Kaepernick chose to protest the anthem. Reading it is to get a sense of what it is like to have a conversation with a committed, thoughtful dissident.

Unfortunately, Reid can say over and over that the protest isn't about disrespect for the flag, the armed forces or the country, but haters are gonna hate.

What they probably don't know is that Reid is just back from a lengthy trip to Cape Town, South Africa, which is the hometown of his wife, Jaid. The Reids and their two children go to South Africa every year.

There they work with an organization called Ubuntu Football. It is a soccer club that focuses on young South African boys, using soccer to impart life lessons in a country where, Reid has said, 60 percent of the boys do not have a father in their lives.

This year, in conjunction with Under Armour, Reid brought soccer cleats and goalie gloves for the club. In all, he spent a month in Cape Town with his family giving Ubuntu Football a PR and personal boost.

Tell me you couldn't sell that story to the fans of any football team.

It's not as if teams haven't forgiven other protesters. Kneeling players became such a trend last season that internet sports sites were running tallies of how many kneelers there were on each team. And nearly every team had at least one.

Seattle defensive lineman Michael Bennett was as active and outspoken as anyone last year, but that didn't stop the Eagles from trading for him.

Granted, the Seahawks gave him away in a fire sale, and then leaked stories he was a pain in the butt, but the 32-year-old has signed with a team, and reportedly drew interest from two others.

Oddly, this all comes back to the 49ers. They've had the two most prominent protesters in uniform. Coach Kyle Shanahan and GM John Lynch were the ones who told Kaepernick he wasn't in their plans, which led him to opt out of his contract and set up the collusion scenario.

As for Reid, the team not only supported his anthem protest - saying it was his right in a country that honors and respects free speech - Shanahan made a point to say he liked Reid as an individual.

“I like how he handles himself,” he said during the season. “I really respect the person.”

Even so, they are apparently cutting him loose to test the market.

And to test the league.

So far, the NFL has flunked.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius.