Brett Favre says that Colin Kaepernick’s decision to forego his NFL career in order to continue his anthem protests and social justice movement, is a sacrifice in league with former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman.

Further, Favre believes that eventually Kaepernick, like Tillman, will be thought of as a “hero.”

In a recent interview with TMZ, the former Packer legend went in-depth on his reasoning for believing that Kaepernick deserves heroic status for his protests and movement.

“It’s not easy for a guy his age — black or white, Hispanic, whatever — to stop something that you’ve always dreamed of doing, and put it on hold, maybe forever, for something that you believe in,” Favre explained.

“I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar,” Favre said. “And, we regard him as a hero. So, I’d assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well.”

Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar deal with the then-St.Louis Rams, to become an Army Ranger. He was killed in Afghanistan in a friendly-fire incident in 2004.

Colin Kaepernick walked away from a contract offer with the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season, to become a free agent. While the 49ers have maintained that Kaepernick would have been cut at the end of that season for financial reasons, there’s also no indication that Kaepernick believed he was walking away from football altogether when he walked away from San Francisco. In fact, his agents remained quite active in trying to find a new NFL home for him after the 49ers.

So, Favre’s comparison between Tillman – who absolutely did know he was walking away from the NFL in particular and potentially life in general, when he joined the Rangers. And Kaepernick, who at the time thought he was merely leaving San Francisco for another team, is tortured to say the least.

Nonetheless, Favre maintains that Kaepernick can probably still play.

“I thought he was a dynamic player when he was playing in his prime,” Favre said. “He’s still young and hasn’t been hit in several years, so there’s no reason to think that he’s lost that much of a step.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently said he would encourage any team that wanted to sign Kaepernick to do so.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn