Colin Kaepernick says he still will not watch NFL games, accusing the league of continuing to “actively blackball” him nearly 10 years after his protest against racist police brutality became one of the most polarizing moments in American sports.
“I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well,” Kaepernick said in an interview with NBC News. “I watch college football.”
The NFL has repeatedly denied claims that it blackballed Kaepernick or his former San Francisco 49ers teammate Eric Reid, who also took part in the anthem protests. Both players reached confidential settlements with the league in 2019 after filing collusion grievances. Kaepernick has participated in several NFL workouts since then, but he has not been signed by a team.
Our News Outlet has contacted an NFL spokesperson seeking comment.
NBC is set to roll out its interview with Kaepernick in multiple parts as the network looks back on the 10-year anniversary of the controversy that reshaped conversations around race, policing and protest in the NFL.
Kaepernick has previously said he has not watched an NFL game in eight years.
Colin Kaepernick speaks in July after receiving the ACLU Ralph Ellison Award for Defenders of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Arts, Business, Science, and Sports
Eric Reid #35 and Colin Kaepernick #7 of the 49ers kneel during the national anthem in 2016
‘I still check everybody’s [NFL] stats,’ he said at the WSJ Tech Live Conference in 2024. ‘It also informs who my agent reaches out to, but I still check the stats. I see what’s going on. I don’t ever turn a game on though, because I’m not gonna support in that way, but I need to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening with quarterbacks out there.’
Now a 38-year-old father to a four-year-old daughter, Kaepernick never officially retired, and even held out hope for an NFL return as recently as two years ago.
‘We’re still training, still pushing,’ he told the WSJ conference. ‘We’ve just got to get one of these team owners to open up.’
When asked why he wants to return, Kaepernick stressed that he’s remained ready for a gridiron return.
‘It’s something I’ve trained my whole life for,’ he said. ‘So, be able to step back on the field, I think that would be a major moment, major accomplishment for me. Also, I think it’s something that I could bring a lot to a team and help them win a championship.’
Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he ignited a nationwide free-speech debate by protesting racist police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem before games.
He has received some interest from NFL teams since he opted out of his contract with the 49ers in anticipation of his release in March of 2017.
Colin Kaepernick and wife Nessa attend the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards on Long Island
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Kaepernick reportedly showed a strong arm and solid conditioning at a 2022 workout with the Las Vegas Raiders, sources told ESPN at the time. The Raiders were receptive to Kaepernick and one source described the workout as a ‘positive’ although he was never added to the team’s roster.
In 2019, Kaepernick settled a grievance with the NFL for an undisclosed amount after accusing owners of blackballing him in retaliation for the controversial protests.
Although Kaepernick remains an NFL pariah, commissioner Roger Goodell admitted in June of 2020 that the league should have listened to players’ concerns about racism sooner, adding that he encouraged teams to sign the former 49ers star.
The league did orchestrate a tryout for Kaepernick in 2019, but that was scuttled after he took issue with the liability waiver the NFL asked him to sign.
He ultimately arranged for his own workout for a handful of teams instead.
Although Kaepernick was reportedly in great shape and showed good arm strength, he did not receive any offers from NFL teams, despite his experience guiding the 49ers to two NFC title games and a Super Bowl appearance.
‘My desire to play football is still there,’ Kaepernick told USA Today in 2020. ‘I still train five days a week. I’m ready to go, I’m ready for a phone call, tryout, workout at any point in time. I’m still waiting on the owners and their partners to stop running from this situation. So I hope I get a call this offseason. I’ll be looking forward to it.’
The Los Angeles Chargers were keeping tabs on Kaepernick in 2020, according to then-coach Anthony Lynn, who described the embattled quarterback as a good ‘fit’ for his offense.
‘It would be crazy to not have him on your workout list,’ Lynn said at the time.
Many around the NFL have become more open to his message since Kaepernick last played in the league.
The protests began with Kaepernick in 2016 as a way to address inequality and racist police brutality. Hundreds of players followed by kneeling, sitting, or raising a fist during The Star-Spangled Banner, even as Kaepernick remained unsigned.
While tensions over the protests simmered throughout the 2016 season, they boiled over in 2017 when President Donald Trump seized upon the issue at a rally in Alabama.
In the months that followed, Trump continued deriding the protests as unpatriotic, going so far as to refer to demonstrators as ‘sons of b****es.’
Trump, for one, has since changed his tune, saying he ‘would love to [Kaepernick] get another shot.’
