Colin Kaepernick says he misses playing football and will continue to train in the hopes that an NFL team will finally sign him.
The now-36-year-old Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers following the 2016 NFL season to pursue a career in activism. He has not been in the league since a loss to the Seattle Seahawks on January 1st, 2017, capping off a brutal 2-14 season for the team.
In an interview with NPR, the former Niners QB said he “will forever miss” football and “continue to train for” a return to the NFL.
“At the end of the day, I don’t want to be in a position where I look back and have to question whether or not I gave it my all to try to pursue that,” he said. “I will make sure that the reason I’m not playing is not because of my work ethic or commitment, but because I was held out of it.”
Colin Kaepernick Being Held Out?
It’s a very simplistic idea to suggest that giving it your all with your ‘work ethic or commitment’ should be an automatic ticket back into the NFL.
I mean, you have to perform on the field as well. Babe Laufenberg I’m sure had a solid work ethic and commitment to remain in the league in the ’90s but, ya know, maybe didn’t have the skill or the ability to do so.
In his last three injury-free seasons (2013, 2014, and 2016), Colin Kaepernick was already on the decline statistically. His average yards per attempt, number of touchdowns, and adjusted QBR all dropped.
Not to mention, his career in activism was already taking priority. Kaepernick became a figure of controversy when he began kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games in 2016 to protest racial injustice and police brutality.
And did we mention the 49ers were 2-14 in his final season? While Kaepernick likes to suggest he was “held out” of the league, he actually began 2016 on the bench, had already been protesting the anthem in pre-season games that year, and was then named starter again in week 6.
The 49ers were 1-10 in games in which he started. That included a game against the Bears in Week 13 when he threw a career-low 4 yards and was sacked 5 times before being benched.
They went back to him as a starter twice that season despite the protests and he still opted out of his contract. That is far from being ‘held out’.
RELATED: Colin Kaepernick Releases New Children’s Book: ‘We Are Free, You & Me’
Promoting His Children’s Book
Colin Kaepernick, in his interview with NPR, was there to promote a new children’s book he wrote with his wife titled, We Are Free, You & Me.
“This children’s book, We Are Free You and Me, with my wife, Nessa – and all of that culmination has really led to a beautiful book that we hope young kids can take, internalize use it as a foundation as they move forward,” he said.
The book is described as an “affirmation of what freedom truly means” and centers on the core principles espoused by their organization, the Know Your Rights Camp (KYRC).
The group describes its mission as an effort to “advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.”
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The interviewer points out that the book has some “heavy” passages, including one that discusses how life isn’t always fair. It reads:
Your truth is your strength, like the roots of a tree, trust in your power.
You have the right to be free. The right to be free is something we share.
But life can be tough and not always fair. Imagine a future one that is better.
We can build a new world. We will do it together.”
Life’s not fair. He’s been “held out” of the NFL.
As one NFL insider recently said, Colin Kaepernick’s belief that he is a victim and could still play at an elite level and deliver a championship is “delusional.”
