Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played a snap of NFL football since the end of the 2016 season, when he threw 16 touchdowns to four interceptions for a 49ers team that may have been the league’s worst. And even as a cavalcade of mediocre-to-terrible quarterbacks have made their way to starting and playing roles in what has become a quarterback-driven league, Kaepernick still can’t find a job.
Does this have everything to do with Kaepernick’s politics and his propensity for protesting during the national anthem? It certainly doesn’t seem to have to do with his talent, relative to other average-to-good quarterbacks.
Kaepernick settled a collusion grievance against the NFL for an undisclosed sum in 2019, but there’s apparently still no room for his talents in the league. And if the NFL has prevented Kaepernick from finding work because the NFL doesn’t agree with his politics, it’s one of the most unseemly chapters in league history.