Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in the National Football League since 2016, but that hasn’t stopped thè quarterback from pitching himself for a job in the league.
In a recent episode of an “I Am An Athlete” podcast, Kaepernick said he’d be willing to join a team as a backup quarterback if that was his way onto an NFL roster.
“I know I have to find my way back in,” Kaepernick said. “So, yeah, if I have to come in as a backup, that fine. But that’s not where I’m staying. And when I prove that I’m a starter, I want to be able to step on the field as such. I just need that opportunity to walk through the door.”
There’s at least one owner of an NFL team that would be willing to give him a chance.
On Wednesday’s episode of NBC Sports “Race in America: A Candid Conversation,” Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis said that he would welcome Kaepernick to the Raiders with “open arms.”
“I believe in Colin Kaepernick,” Davis said. “He deserves every chance in the world to become a quarterback in the National Football League. I still stand by it. If our coaches and general manager want to bring him in or want him to be the quarterback on this team, I would welcome him with open arms.”
“I think Colin is a very misunderstood human being,” Davis continued. “I’ve gotten a chance to talk to him. I never really knew Colin, and I didn’t understand him. I didn’t understand the kneeling, what that meant initially. Over time, I have learned a little bit more about it. I understand where he was coming from. He’s got a message for society as a whole.”
Davis went on to compare Kaepernick to Olympian Tommie Smith, who raised his fist during a medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics, saying that Kaepernick was in the “same vein” as Smith in that Kaepernick sacrificed things in his life to “get a message across about police violence, equity, and inclusion.”
“In the same vein, Colin Kaepernick has sacrificed a lot of the things that he could have been doing in his life to get a message across about police violence and equity and inclusion in America,” Davis said. “I stand by that.”
Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016, when he started to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and wore socks that depicted police officers as pigs.
In March, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said he believes that Kaepernick deserves a second chance in the NFL.
“Does that guy deserve a second shot? I think he does,” Carroll said.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].