Colin Kaepernick, who looked like he may struggle to find a team after a controversial 2016 season, has at least one admirer in the NFL.
On Monday, the Seattle Seahawks coach, Pete Carroll, said the team were considering the quarterback as a back-up for starter Russell Wilson. Carroll was appearing on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock and Salk show and was asked if he would be interested in Kaepernick and another quarterback who has fallen out of favor, Robert Griffin III.
“We’re looking at everybody. We really are,” Carroll said. “We’ve been tracking everything that’s going on, and we’ve got cap and roster issues and stuff like that that we’re still trying to manage properly. But quite frankly, yes, we are looking at all those guys.” Griffin and Kaepernick, like Wilson, are mobile quarterbacks who could be a good fit for the Seahawks system. Wilson’s back-up last season, Trevone Boykin, has been arrested twice in the off-season and the team may want a more reliable figure.
Kaepernick’s decision not to stand for the national anthem became the NFL’s biggest storyline last year. But he has since said he will drop his protest when the new season begins, in part because he believes his objective – initiating a nationwide debate on racial injustice – has largely been accomplished.
Kaepernick led San Francisco to Super Bowl XLVII, and to the NFC championship game the following season, where they lost to the Seahawks. Despite a drop off in production since, many were surprised that Kaepernick – who threw for 16 touchdowns and four interceptions last year – was not picked up as a free agent. Kaepernick may well find sympathetic team-mates if he does end up in Seattle. Cornerback Richard Sherman said earlier this year that Kaepernick was being blackballed for his beliefs.
“It’s difficult to see because he’s played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it’s difficult to understand,” said Sherman in March. “Obviously he’s going to be in a backup role at this point. But you see quarterbacks, there was a year Matt Schaub had a pretty rough year and got signed the next year. So it has nothing to do with football. You can see that. They signed guys who have had off years before.”
Other Seahawks players, including Michael Bennett and Doug Baldwin, also spoke out in support of Kaepernick’s protest last season.
Griffin is also a free agent after his time with the Cleveland Browns last season ended.
