Colin Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers in the offseason and has been a free agent ever since -- even though he said last month that he's "ready now" to play in the NFL. Depending on who you ask, Kaepernick's fate isn't about him being blackballed for kneeling during the national anthem last season to protest social injustice, but is simply a function of poor play in recent years.

But it's hard to reconcile that reality with one where the likes of Brian Hoyer, Josh McCown, Brock Osweiler and Brandon Weeden are currently employed in the NFL. And this goes a long way in explaining why Kaepernick has filed a collusion grievance against the owners. 

And Kaepernick's attorney, Mark Geragos, says he has a "high degree of confidence" that he will be able to prove that the NFL owners colluded to keep the quarterback out of the league.

"I am going to predict right now that we will have a smoking gun," Geragos told CNN's Anderson Cooper during an appearance Tuesday night on "AC360." "There are people who are not going to get into an arbitration proceeding and they are not going to lie. They are not going to lie. They are going to tell the truth and they're going to say what happened. They were told no, you're not going to hire him."

That's typically not how a smoking gun works -- either you have one or you don't. Semantics aside, Geragos isn't alone in thinking that Kaepernick is being blackballed.

"People should be losing their jobs, because they are idiots. You've heard every excuse in the book for why [Kaepernick] doesn't have a job, but you can see what it is,"  Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said. "They've agreed not to give him a job." ... 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stated previously that Kaepernick's situation isn't a result of his activism, something Patriots owner Bob Kraft reiterated in a recent interview. But Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn't believe that to be the case.

"I think he should be on a roster right now," Rodgers told Mina Kimes of ESPN the Magazine just before the season. "I think because of his protests, he's not."

Meanwhile, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora writes that, according to sources, "The influence and power of President Donald Trump will be a central element in Kaepernick's collusion grievance against the NFL," adding that the "the culture fostered by the leader of the free world [is] a factor in teams failing to extend a contract offer for workout invitation to the former Super Bowl quarterback since he became a free agent in March."