Colin Kaepernick, who hasn’t played in the NFL since late 2016 and took his knee to protest police brutality against black people, was invited to train with the Las Vegas Raiders, various media reported on Wednesday. According to ESPN and NFL Network, the 34-year-old quarterback, who has not trained with a team since 2017 and the end of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers, completed several sessions this week with the Nevada team.
In the past, Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, had said that he would give his “blessing” if the coaches of his club wanted to sign Kaepernick. “I have to find my way back. So, if I have to be taken as a substitute, it will be fine with me, ”said the person concerned a month ago in an interview broadcast on the podcast “I Am Athlete”.
In the fall of 2016, during his final season with the 49ers, which he led to the Super Bowl in 2013, which ultimately lost, Kaepernick knelt several times during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. Other American athletes had done the same, throughout the following year, provoking the ire of Donald Trump, insults as a bonus.
The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis reignited the anger of millions of protesters and the “Black Lives Matter” movement across the country. Kaepernick’s kneeling had then been rehabilitated. “I wish we had listened earlier to what you were kneeling for and what you were trying to draw attention to,” League boss Roger Goodell said in 2020, lamenting the lack of sound. support of his authority towards Kaepernick.
Meanwhile, the player had filed a lawsuit against the NFL, accusing the owners of the teams to have agreed to keep him out of the league. He finally withdrew his complaint with a financial arrangement, amounting to less than 10 million dollars, according to various media. According to him, if there was any reluctance to hire him due to his protests, that should no longer be the case in today’s NFL. “There are ‘End Racism’ painted in the end zones, ‘Black Lives Matter’ written on the helmets. Everything I said should be in line with what the league stands for,” he argued on the “I Am Athlete” show.
