The buzzword for the 2017 NFL offseason was "distraction" — so much so that it bled into the regular season, too.
Why was no team trying to sign or even work out Colin Kaepernick? He was too much of a distraction. Why were equally- or less-accomplished quarterbacks getting signed ahead of him? They weren't distractions. Why did players need to stop protesting at games, why did teams need to get said players under control? Why did segments of the public want the entire issue to go away? Distractions. You can’t concentrate on the game, survive as a team and win with distractions like that.
Yet, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl. And, arguably, no collection of players immersed themselves in the issues they were protesting, and the issue of protesting itself, more so than the Eagles.
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So there was no more fitting way for the 2017 NFL season to end than with those Eagles hoisting the Lombardi Trophy — with the same passion that several of them thrust their fists in the air, and launched themselves into negotiations with owners about supporting their causes, and declared their intent to put their money, time and minds where their fists (and shoulder clasps) were.
Eagles players, as well as their coaches and their team owner, don't need to rub this in the faces of the people who spent the last two years scolding players to keep "politics" out of their games and to stop being "unpatriotic." They certainly don't need to clap back at everybody who talked out of the sides of their necks about "dividing the locker room."
To the contrary, they spoke collectively and individually after the big win Sunday over the Patriots about how unified they were as a team, along various fronts, at the exact same time some of them confirmed that they had no intention of being "honored" at the White House or of curtailing their activities, much less stopping them.
The lesson, then, should be that in groups as random as the hundred or so personalities in an NFL locker room, everyone can have different views and varied levels of engagement with society and the larger world outside of football … and still coalesce in the game that not only pays them well, but also constantly demands so much physically, mentally and emotionally.
The odds that the people who need that lesson will get it, though, are slim.
That’s why, even after the Eagles win and celebrate and get showered with praise at their parade this week, the NFL will still be embroiled in the same issues in the 2018 offseason as in 2017.
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Commissioner Roger Goodell’s tepid, deflective answers at his Super Bowl press conference indicated the league still sees players expressing themselves as a problem that needs solving, a broken thing that needs fixing.
Owners are still all over the map about how to handle potential protests during the national anthem — and about whether rules need to be put in place to stop them.
How much the president (and vice president, who publicly protested the protests at a game last season) will keep hectoring the players, commissioner, owners and league overall on the topic remains unclear. Goodell, somewhat surprisingly, said he had not spoken to the president about his constant attacks and did not seem compelled to do so, to defend his sport and its players or otherwise.
The Players Coalition, meanwhile, showed large splits in philosophy and strategy, according to a detailed report from The Undefeated before the Super Bowl. The fates of some players who continued to protest could be in jeopardy; the 49ers’ Eric Reid has said he would not be surprised if he goes unsigned in free agency, and Michael Bennett could possibly see the same if the Seahawks release him for age or cap reasons.
Meanwhile, in the offseason after a backup quarterback, Nick Foles, won a Super Bowl after beating former backup Case Keenum in the NFC title game, Kaepernick is a long shot to get signed again. His collusion grievance is still pending, and there are sure to be fireworks as that evolves.
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The Eagles’ win should have proven to everybody that there's nothing for teams, the league or the fans to fear from a social consciousness — and that maybe there’s something to embrace, for the good of the sport and of the nation.
It won’t prove any of that, though.
Instead of the notion of "distractions" being resolved and dismissed, it will devour this offseason, just like last offseason.
