Colin Kaepernick was benched after the 49ers were at that point 1-11 and had lost 11 straight in 2016. The Niners' GM made it clear to him that offseason that he would be released or he could opt out of his contract and become a free agent, whatever.
How did Kaepernick "sacrifice everything?" By that point, his career as a starting QB was basically over. Sure some teams may have signed him as a backup (the Seahawks reached out to him twice) but not with the additional baggage of his on the field activism.
But no, he made a savvy business decision by going SJW. He now has a lucrative contract with Nike. And it should be said, he has done some good donating money and clothing to the poor here and abroad.
Ok, a few things here :
1)
Absolutely.Dear Nike,
This is what "sacrificing everything" looks like.
https://images2.imgbox.com/58/0f/rUISgags_o.jpg
Buy you know, this is advertiement, they like to exagerate, to over-emphasize things, to use unecesary and over the top superlatives, etc. just for the sake of a catch-phrase
2) Kaepernick di a bold move wether you like it or not it was bold, it took guts. But I don't think he ever imagined things would go that far. But the part where he sacrificied something (not everything but something) was when he choosed to stand his ground. He woulc have apologied, asked for forgiveness, told he wanted to do something, to say something but did not understood the meaning of what he had done, etc. But he did not. And when he made that choice he knew it would have huge consequences on his life, that it would be, on war or another, a turning point.
Wether you agree wth him, with what he did and the reasons why he did that, you gotta admit the man choosed to stand for what he believes, even thought it costed him a lot since it happened. He never backed down, never back-pedal, stayed true to his words, to himself.
Wether you like him or not, wether you agreed with him or not you have to admit it takes guts to do that, you have to admit the man is not a coward.
3) It don't think it was "savvy business" : There's no way he could have guessed that he would sign with Nike or any other huge coroporation. These corporations usually avoid controversy, usually try to stay neutral, to avoid conflicts because they want to sell products to everyone, they don't want to alienate potential customers.
The guy is now considered an outcast in the NFL and no team wants to hire him because they fear the backlash that they would then face. He hasn't played any game in an entire season and is starting his second season in a row as free-agent. He's 30, he should be on top of his game but he's in a dead-end. That doesn't like "savvy business" to me...