Colin Kaepernick Has Hope of Returning to NFL, Despite All Odds Being Stacked Against Him
On August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, sat for the national anthem before a preseason game. When asked why he sat, Kaepernick answered, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
Immediately many players responded including the New Orleans Saints’ quarterback, Drew Brees. Drew Brees said, “he can speak out about a very important issue. But there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag.”
Additionally, the NFL said, “players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the national anthem.”
On September 1, 2016, Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem before games and was soon joined by teammate Eric Reid alongside other players in the NFL. Very quickly, sports players all over the country, from little league to the NFL knelt during the National Anthem.
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However, the more players that knelt, the more criticism they drew. On September 23, 2017, Donald Trump tweeted “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem… If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
After becoming a free agent in the 2017 offseason, Colin Kaepernick could not find anywhere to go despite an exceptionally gifted runner and a talented thrower.
On October 15, he filed a grievance against the NFL accusing all 32 teams of colluding to keep him out of the league. 4 months later, on February 15, 2019, Kaepernick reached a confidential settlement with the league.
On Thursday during a zoom conference, Seattle Seahawks coach, Pete Carroll, said that he regretted not signing Colin Kaepernick in 2017: “I regret that we weren’t the one way back when that just did it just to do it, even though I thought that it wasn’t the right fit necessarily for us at the time.”
Carroll added, “I didn’t see him as a backup quarterback and I didn’t want to put him in that situation with Russ [Russell Wilson].”
Carroll thought that Colin Kaepernick was “right on point” with what he was fighting for: “He was right on it, he was right on the topics about police brutality and inequality, and he was right on the subject matter at the time. That’s so obvious now.”
Despite the fact that Kaepernick hasn’t played a game since 2016, and many people still dislike him, there is still hope for the free agent. Pete Carroll claimed he received a phone call from a head coach about Kaepernick, so Carroll knows “somebody is interested.”
Nathaniel is a student at the College Preparatory School. His favorite sports to play are Baseball and Basketball. He also enjoys watching Football. He is a sports writer for At the Buzzer.
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