Ridiculous ESPN analyst wonders why Colin Kaepernick is protesting the national anthem but not child slavery

Trent Dilfer, an analyst for ESPN, used to play quarterback in the NFL. Dilfer wasn’t great at that job—he’s most famously known for his stint on the Ravens, where he became perhaps the worst QB to ever win a Super Bowl—and he spent time as a backup on the Seattle Seahawks, where he was next in line if the starter went down.

Colin Kaepernick, too, is spending time as a backup for the San Francisco 49ers. Why is all of this relevant? Well, Dilfer is making the rounds on the idiot commentary circuit, and is unearthing all of this history in support of his idiot commentary arguments.

First, there was Sunday, when Dilfer argued Kaepernick—as a backup—had no right to speak up.

“The big thing that hit me through all of this was this is a backup quarterback whose job is to be quiet and sit in the shadows and get the starter ready to play Week One,” Dilfer said on ESPN. “Yet, he chose a time when he became the center of attention. And it has disrupted that organization. It has caused friction and torn the fabric of the team.”

Kaepernick responded to these comments Monday, calling them “one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve ever heard” and asking him to speak with the families of unarmed black men and women murdered by police before making that argument.

Well, Kaepernick’s plea to further consider his position doesn’t seem to have translated, because Dilfer doubled down Tuesday in an interview with KNBR Radio.

A partial transcript, courtesy of Sporting News:

My wife and I had been introduced to some really disturbing stuff and other social injustices: Childhood slavery in our country. And I’d gone to a couple seminars and presentations where we got really deep in the weeds about this issue. It became a passion of ours to help fight this battle of childhood slavery around the country and I had a very big platform in Seattle and I could have leveraged being a Seattle Seahawk, being an NFL quarterback, done a lot to get that message out there, but I chose not to at the sake of not wanting to disrupt the team and I never want to draw attention to myself, and take it away from Matt, the rest of our team and our preparation to win.”

False equivalencies aside, in what world would Dilfer’s position result in him receiving even one tiny fraction of the shit Kaepernick has endured?

It does not sound like Trent Dilfer has really thought this one through.

(Colin Kaepernick and Trent Dilfer and ESPN did not respond to immediate requests for comment.)