My point is, even if you take the highest reported figure at face value, it's 3-4 years of starting QB money dispersed across the entire NFL collective. AKA, the money was not signifcant to the NFL. Unproven QB's like Garoppolo are pulling in similar money nowadays. The NFL didn't take a huge financial hit if you assume the worst case scenario for them. The truth is, it's probably less than that since there's no major sources yet standing by those numbers, and even if it is, once Kaeps team accounts for lawyer fees and taxes, it's going to end up being a lot less. Yes he probably made out with a good chunk of change, but he was probably better having a career in the NFL with all the benefits that came with it.
Listen I'm a Patriots fan, I hate the outcome of deflategate on more than just the levels of how idiotic and non sensicle it was. But they did win the case and and as a result the league can pretty much suspend anybody for any reason. That ruling totally fucked the players.
Lastly, there is no such thing as a "pure win case". Ask any lawyer in the world and they will tell you that they've lost and won cases that they were 100% sure were going the other way. That wasn't really the issue here. Even if the NFL lost ouright, what do they really lose? The same people that hate them for not signing Kaep still hate them? They have to pay Kaep some money that a league that big wouldn't notice anyways? They never have to hire him again.
The truth is, the case got to a point they didn't think it would get to and all of the owners were going to be subjected to a discovery process and a league that is generally tight knit about internal matters was going to be at a lot of risk to exposure on that front. Do you really think they want Jerry Jones, or the Mara's or the Rooney's or the Kraft's emails all leaking out into the public with potentially damaging information? No. Do you think they want leaks about the leagues busienss coming out? No. They got to a place where now it was going to trial, now it was an uncertain outcome, now the leagues owners were going to be at risk of exposure, and the money to make it go away was insignificant to the variable of risk.
Mike Brown saying the kneeling was a factor has no bearing on the case. It only matters if Brown and another owner said "lets all agree to never hire Kaepernick or Reid". Any owner in the league could refuse to sign him individually based on the kneeling.
At the end of the day, it was a win for neither side. Yes the NFL made a payout that meant absolute nothing to them in the grandscheme of things. Kaeps probably never playing in this league again and he likely lost 7-8 years of NFL employment where he would have made more than what he made in this settlement in addition to accruing pensions and other league benefits. As an activist, he also can never talk about this case and what went on with it every again if he wants to keep the money he just made. He doesn't get to go home and say "the NFL was wrong, this proves it, this this and this happened in the case". No he had to take his money and keep his mouth shut.
They both won somethings too. The league never has to hear from Colin Kaepernick again. People can complain, but it's over for the NFL. They get to put this behind them and move on. Kaepernick who already lost his career, now has some money to show for all his trouble that he can live off.