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Colin Kaepernick has not played a down in the NFL since 2016. Countless teams have avoided Kaepernick, opting to sign lesser-talented journeymen, or even retired players rather than the one-time Super Bowl quarterback due to his social activism.
One of those teams is the Seattle Seahawks, who were in need of a new backup for All-Pro QB Russell Wilson after releasing Trevone Boykin, who was arrested and charged after brutally assaulting his girlfriend.
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Kaepernick had a workout scheduled in Seattle earlier this month, but reportedly canceled it after he refused to say that he would not kneel during the national anthem. Seattle then signed 25-year-old quarterback Stephen Morris, who — surprise — has never thrown a regular-season NFL pass.
A possible comeback?
On Monday, during a pre-draft press conference, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll kept the door open on signing Kaepernick, telling USA Today that “there may be a place for him.”
“Well, let me say it this way — we are still battling on all fronts, on all guys — we are still (looking) at guys and evaluating,” Carroll said. “There’s free agents that we continue to look at. In that, the process just continues. At this point, we’ve gone through the information gathering and we have a pretty good feel for where we are.”
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Carroll also said that reports that Kaepernick’s workout was cancelled because of protest-related issues were misleading.
Kaepernick, 30, has been blackballed from the league since he began the police brutality protests during the 2016 preseason. Former NFL player and Army Veteran Nate Boyer convinced Kaepernick to kneel during the anthem to respect the troops while expressing his displeasure with the country.
While detractors have insisted that Kaepernick has been kept out of the league for “football reasons” and saying that he is not good enough to play in the league, a vast majority of the other quarterbacks signed since his disappearance from the league suggests otherwise.
Last week, Kaepernick was given Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience award, the highest honor the organization can bestow, and appears as committed as ever to his social works. One only wonders if there’s a place for that type of person on an NFL team.
