Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick was blackballed by the NFL after he kneeled during the playing of the National Anthem before games during the 2016 season.
The then-29-year-old is coming off a solid individual season for the 49ers, throwing 16 touchdowns with four interceptions in 12 games (11 starts). He also added 468 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Despite his numbers, he became a divisive figure in the sports landscape because of his decision to kneel during the national anthem as part of a protest against police brutality.
Former ESPN star Jemele Hill hopped on the radio show of Colin Kaepernick’s longtime partner Nessa Diab and was flat-out asked why the free agent quarterback was blackballed.
“Why is Colin Kaepernick blackballed from the NFL in your opinion?” Nessa asked Hill.
“The thing is, the answer is so simple that people, I think that’s why they reject it,” Hill said.
“It’s not only because he stood up for Black people,” she added. “It’s because he’s somebody that, with the way that the NFL does things, can’t be controlled. So the presence of somebody like Colin in the locker room is a threat. It’s a threat to how they do business because Colin is able to make people think – and that is dangerous – and they don’t want that in their locker room.”
“They are afraid of what his influence would be,” she added later.
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Not many teams have considered signing Kaepernick over the course of the last seven years, with the Seattle Seahawks bringing him in for a visit one year before going in another direction.
He last played in the league back in the 2016-17 season for the San Francisco 49ers. Since then, many teams have likely blackballed him for taking a knee. Kaepernick sued the NFL, claiming teams were colluding against him.
In the end, both the league and Kaepernick reached an agreement regarding the lawsuit.
In 2021, he turned up the heat in a Netflix series as he likened the NFL draft to slavery.
Just this year, he still trying his best to get back in the league, but at his current game, even his supporters realize that the ship has sailed.
