The 2017 NFL season had little to do with what happened on the field. Kaepernick had already changed football in the summer of 2016 when he refused to stand for the national anthem. His plea for the nation to start a conversation about race moved other players to speak out as well, breaking through an unwritten edict that football players should be seen but not heard. This is the season many players discovered they had voices on important matters and they learned to use them. He made a football season about things other than football.

Source: The Guardian January 01, 2018 15:41 UTC