The NFL’s most vocal and infamous former employee may not be a former employee for much longer.
According to new Chargers head coach and longtime Kaepernick-confidant Jim Harbaugh, he offered the NFL’s original anthem protester a job on the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff earlier this year.
“Yeah, we talked a little bit about it,” Harbaugh said in an interview with USA Today. “He’s considering it. He was out of the country. He said he was going to get back to me. We haven’t reconnected since then. That was early, early in the year.”
Kaepernick and Harbaugh have history.
The former Wolverines coach was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 when he selected Kaepernick in the second round of that year’s draft. The pair led a resurgence in San Fran, leading the 49ers to winning records, playoff appearances, and a trip to the Super Bowl.
The pair split after Harbaugh returned to the college ranks to coach his alma mater, Michigan, in 2015. Kaepernick would leave the NFL after opting out of his deal with the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season. It was a year in which Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before each game in protest of America.
Britain’s Sky Sports caught up with Kaepernick last weekend in Paris, where he attended the Olympic Games. The former 49er indicated he still strongly desired to play in the NFL.
“Hopefully,” Kaepernick said when asked about the prospects of a return to the playing field. We’ve just got to get one of these team owners to open up.
“It’s something I’ve trained my whole life for. To be able to step back on the field, I think that would be a major moment, a major accomplishment for me. Also, I think I could bring a lot to a team and help them win a championship.”
Kaepernick has frequently voiced his desire to return to the league despite likening the NFL draft selection process to a slave auction.
In the series Colin In Black & White, which Kaepernick narrates, the former 49er appears in a scene where he talks about NFL prospects being “poked, prodded, and examined” for defects before the NFL Draft. The players at the “combine” then leave the NFL field and enter a mid-1800s slave auction where white landowners examine slaves for purchase.
In the scene, Kaepernick says this is how “they” establish a “power dynamic.” The scene closes with the NFL coach and slave auctioneer shaking hands against the backdrop of bonded slaves in an attempt to establish a generational link between the professional athlete selection process and slavery.
https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1454561312990715904
If Kaepernick intends to accept Harbaugh’s offer, he must do it quickly. The NFL regular season begins on September 5th.
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