Colin Kaepernick has more momentum for an NFL return now than he has at any point over the past six years.
After falling out of favor with team decision-makers and league personnel over his police brutality protests in 2016, the one-time San Francisco 49ers star has made multiple attempts at a comeback. All have failed up until now.
For a while it seemed like the door on Kaepernick playing again in the NFL was officially shut.
That changed at the end of May, when the Las Vegas Raiders randomly invited him to try out for the team. As soon as they did, two other squads suddenly decided they were interested in Kaepernick as well.
Funny how that works.
This weekend, a series of quotes from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Kaepernick went viral. Although some sites have passed the remarks off as new, they are actually from an old interview Rodgers did with Mina Kimes of ESPN.
In that interview, Rodgers suggested that it would be “ignorant” to say that Kaepernick’s protests didn’t play a role in the league’s decision to exclude him after 2016.
“I think he should be on a roster right now,” Rodgers said plainly. “I think because of his protests, he’s not.”
The Packers quarterback also weighed in on standing versus kneeling for the national anthem.
“I’m gonna stand because that’s the way I feel about the flag — but I’m also 100 percent supportive of my teammates or any fellow players who are choosing not to,” he told Kimes. “They have a battle for racial equality. That’s what they’re trying to get a conversation started around.”
Rodgers also didn’t hold back when it came to acknowledging that he knew what he didn’t know.
“I think the best way I can say this is: I don’t understand what it’s like to be in that situation,” Rodgers noted. “What it is to be pulled over, or profiled, or any number of issues that have happened, that Colin was referencing — or any of my teammates have talked to me about…But I know it’s a real thing my black teammates have to deal with.”
Rodgers has never been shy about expressing his opinions. Whether he being very open about his true feelings on Brett Favre or keeping it real on his personal beliefs, he tends to call it how he sees it. Even if it rubs some folks the wrong way.
In that vein – his honesty regarding Kaepernick is fairly unsurprising.
Last week, Kaepernick’s status with the Raiders seemed to come into focus. A lot of questions appeared to be at least partially answered regarding his future.
— Game 7 (@game7__) June 5, 2022
Will the 34-year-old get one last shot in the NFL before he is forced to officially retire due to his age?
Time will tell.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
