Upon taking over as controlling owner Tuesday, Sheila Ford Hamp said she won’t stop the Detroit Lions from signing Colin Kaepernick.
“If our coaches and our general manager all think it’s a good idea to bring him in, I would completely support that,” she told reporters.
Ford Hamp said she wouldn’t kneel during the national anthem, but she absolutely wouldn’t have an issue with any players if they chose to do so.
“First of all, I think the understanding is completely different now,” Ford Hamp said. “I think most people really understand what the kneeling was all about. I know that the commissioner has said and I completely agree that we support our players’ right to peaceful protest, we support the First Amendment. I think this has really, finally, finally, thank goodness, gotten national attention that this is a serious problem and we as an organization plan to listen to our players and support them any way we can.”
Hamp might be willing to sign Kaepernick, but the team currently has an established starter in Matthew Stafford, and signed Chase Daniel to a three-year, $13.05-million contract in free agency to be the back-up.
