Madden 21 creators have recently added famous activist and ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the playstation/xbox football game. On September 8th, Kaepernick became a qb to any team in franchise mode.. He’s one of the top free agents with an 81 overall rating. While this is certainly something new, many fans have cast doubts about his ratings, claiming that an 81 is a bit (or very) high for a player who hasn’t been in the league since March of 2017, when he infamously opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers after being told the team was planning to release him. While there are no doubts about Kaepernick's revolutionary work in the social justice field, social justice work shouldn’t translate to an 81 overall in a very competitive video game.
Prior to being known around the world by millions for being one of the first mainstream people to stand up against police brutality in America, Colin Kaepernick was famous for nearly winning a superbowl with Jim Harbuagh in 2013. That year the 49ers won 12 of their 16 regular season games, with Colin having 3,197 passing yards and 21 passing touchdowns. His season became all the more impressive when he put up 798 pass yards on a 61.3% completion percentage in the playoffs in just three games (pro-football-reference.com). Unfortunately for San Francisco that year, they came up just short of winning it all, losing to the Ravens in the superbowl by three, 31-34. 2013 was by far the best year of Kaepernick's career, but the NFL glory days are long behind him now. His last NFL appearance was the 2016-2017 season. During that year Kaepernick had 2,241 yards on a 59% completion percentage, with his team winning one game and losing ten.
In 2013 Colin had a Madden rating of 89. In 2016 his rating was 84. So, why does he have an 81 now? Many argue that he was blackballed by the league in an attempt to shut him and his views up, but frankly that’s not relevant here. Social justice work aside, Kaepernick hasn’t played in a regulated football game since 2016, and it’s been over four years. It’s not that he doesn’t belong in Madden at all (although some might try and argue exactly that) but rather it’s that his rating is quite high, and a little disrespectful to other players. Matt Stafford, the Lions quarterback, has an 83 overall rating in the game, and he led the NFL in passing yards through four games in the 2019-2020 season! Kyler Murray, who many believe was the league's best rookie quarterback in 2019-2020, is just a 77! Although Colin has done amazing social work and represented those he believes are oppressed, it’s clear that he doesn’t deserve an 81 overall rating in this year's edition of Madden.
References:
(1) https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KaepCo00.htm
(2) https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/8/21427590/colin-kaepernick-madden-nfl-21-ea-sports-added-qb