Colin Kaepernick spent six seasons in the NFL. Since he last played, the NFL has played seven seasons without him.
Kaepernick still wants back in.
“We’re still training, still pushing,” Kaepernick recently told Sky Sports when asked if he still wants to play in the NFL. “So hopefully. We’ve just got to get one of these team owners to open up.”
What would it mean for him to play pro football again?
“I mean, it’s something I’ve trained my whole life for,” Kaepernick said. “So to be able to step back on the field would be a major moment, a 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.”
I firmly believe the NFL colluded against him in 2017, with a business decision that catered to the 30 percent of the fan base that hates him and ignored the 30 percent of the fan base that loves him. (The league ultimately settled his collusion grievance.) I also firmly believe that it’s over for Kaepernick, and that it has been.
He’ll be 37 in November. He hasn’t played since January 1, 2017. At this point, it’s just not happening.
The mere fact that his biggest champion in coaching circles — former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh — is back in the NFL but Kaepernick’s name hasn’t even been whispered as a possibility confirms it. Back in 2017, Harbaugh said on PFT Live that he believes a team can win championships, with an “s”, with Kaepernick. Since then, Harbaugh arranged an open workout for Kaepernick at a Michigan spring game.
In 2024, it’s too late. It’s done. The NFL successfully colluded against him long enough to make it moot.
And that’s the bottom line, more than seven years later. He comes off as delusional by thinking at this point that there’s even a chance.
On that point, Kaepernick expressed interest in playing flag football in the next Olympics. When he’ll be 41.
“Hopefully we’ll be out there,” Kaepernick said. “We’re gonna work on some things, see if we can make it in there. But would love to be out there.”
The notion that he’d even have a chance to make the U.S. Olympic flag football team really is “out there.” Even more out there than the idea that he’ll return to the NFL at this point.
To summarize, the NFL mistreated him. They colluded against him. They blackballed.
Regardless, they’ve long since run out the clock. Even with Harbaugh back in the NFL, it would be a major shock if Kaepernick came back at this point.