The recent killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, among a handful of other tragic events including the shooting of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, reignited the Black Lives Matter movement and brought attention to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem in 2016 to protest the very thing that happened to Floyd, police brutality against people of color.
Kaepernick’s protests brought significant backlash from angry fans, as well as the President of the United States, and his decision cost him his NFL career. He has remained unsigned since March of 2017.
Kaepernick has continued to voice his desire to return to the league, and he has received support from a ton of current and former players, including Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and, most recently, new Seattle running back Carlos Hyde – who was teammates with Kaepernick in San Francisco from 2014-2016.
“I think the NFL can start by signing Kaep back,” Hyde told Seattle media members on a video conference call. “I think if they sign Kap back, that’ll show that they’re really trying to move in a different direction. Because Kap was making a statement four years ago about what’s going on in today’s world and the NFL didn’t bother to listen to him then, so I think they should start by doing that.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell did issue a recorded statement about the racial injustice in this country, even admitting, “we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier.”
Goodell never mentioned Kaepernick by name, however, and at this point there has been little to connect him to any NFL teams as a free agent.
“I can’t really give you a good answer on what the NFL needs to do,” Hyde continued. “The racism in this world is deep-rooted. I don’t think the NFL is going to change anything, but personally I really don’t know.”
“I just know they can sign Kaep.”
