Kaepernick, who still wants to play, writing a book
Colin Kaepernick is turning his experiences as a black-balled quarterback into a memoir. The former San Francisco 49ers QB and current free agent sat down with Jarrett Bell of USA Today to discuss his upcoming memoir.
“I learned early on that in fighting against systematic oppression, dehumanization and colonization, who controls the narrative shapes the reality of how the world views society,” Kaepernick told Bell in the interview. “It controls who's loved, who's hated, who's degraded and who's celebrated.”
Kaepernick has been unsigned since he protested against police brutality and institutional racism during the 2016 NFL season by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. Kaepernick explicitly stated that he hopes to return to football at some point, despite people doubting his desire to play in the NFL.
“My desire to play football is still there,” Kaepernick said in the interview. “I still train five days a week. I'm ready to go, I'm ready for a phone call, tryout, workout at any point in time. I'm still waiting on the owners and their partners to stop running from this situation. So I hope I get a call this offseason. I'll be looking forward to it.”
Kaepernick sued the NFL arguing the owners colluded to keep him out of the league. He settled with the league in February 2019 for an undisclosed amount of money.
Kaepernick stated this same desire to play when he held a workout in Atlanta during the season last year. The only executive personnel at his workout was Eagles vice president of football operations Andrew Berry. Berry is now the general manager of the Cleveland Browns.
The league's hastily-arranged workout was originally supposed to be held at the Atlanta Falcons facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia, but Kaepernick
opted to change the location of the workout after the NFL tried to get him to sign a waiver that said he would not be able file additional lawsuits against the NFL. The NFL also would not let the media cover the workout and the league was going to control the footage of the drills.
The newly relaunched XFL offered Kaepernick a spot as a starting quarterback, but his asking prices were too high, according to XFL commissioner Oliver Luck.