The man who wasn't there: 2017's most impactful player was Colin Kaepernick

If we’re being honest about 2017’s most impactful player then we have to say it was the quarterback who was deemed toxic for the crime of making us think

Someday people will look back at the just-completed 2017 NFL season and behold the brilliance of Tom Brady at 40 and Drew Brees at 38. They will marvel at how eight teams made the playoffs who had not done so last year. They will chuckle at Cleveland’s 0-16 record and wonder how the New York Giants could have tumbled to 3-13.

But these recollections will be footnotes in a record book. The 2017 NFL season had little to do with what happened on the field. It wasn’t about the quarterbacks who defied age but rather the quarterback who wasn’t there, the one who once nearly won a Super Bowl and then became too toxic to touch – all for the crime of making us think. If we are being honest about 2017’s most impactful player then we have to say it was not Brady or Brees or Carson Wentz or Todd Gurley or Aaron Donald for the touchdowns they scored and the quarterbacks they sacked. It was Colin Kaepernick for the contract he never got.

Maybe the greatest flop of all time pic.twitter.com/aBBSDjnnc6