Door swings open for Kaepernick
Roger Goodell would like to see Colin Kaepernick back in the NFL this season.
The NFL commissioner said during ESPN’s “The Return of Sports” special on Monday that he is encouraging teams to sign the 32-year old quarterback, who hasn’t played the last three seasons. Kaepernick was with the 49ers in 2016 when he kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
“If he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it’s gonna take a team to make that decision. I welcome that, support a club making that decision and encourage them to do that,” Goodell said during his interview with ESPN’s Mike Greenberg.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said last week that he received a call from another team about Kaepernick. Carroll and the Seahawks brought in Kaepernick for a workout in 2017 and had another planned in 2018 before it was canceled.
Goodell set up a tryout for Kaepernick in Atlanta last year for scouts of all 32 teams to attend, but it unraveled at the last moment due to lack of media access and what Kaepernick’s representatives saw as an unusual liability waiver. Instead of the workout taking place at the Falcons’ training complex, Kaepernick conducted an impromptu session at a high school in front of media and scouts from eight teams.
■ Alcohol is suspected in a hit-and-run crash that led to the arrest of Giants K Aldrick Rosas in Northern California, authorities said. Rosas, 25, allegedly failed to stop for a red light and plowed his Chevrolet SUV into the side of a pickup truck Monday in the city of Chico, the California Highway Patrol said. Rosas kept driving and then walked away from the SUV when it broke down, the CHP said in a statement. He was arrested a short time later on suspicion of hit-andrun and driving on a suspended license . ... The 49ers rewarded coach Kyle Shanahan with a new six-year contract after he took the team to the Super Bowl in his third season at the helm. The Niners are replacing the three years remaining on Shanahan’s original six-year contract signed in 2017 to keep him under contract through 2025 . ... The NFL announced that the 2021 Pro Bowl will be played at the new Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday, Jan. 31 — one week before the Super Bowl in Tampa. The game was played in Orlando the past four years.
Auto racing: Dale Earnhardt Jr., the longtime fan favorite and two-time Daytona 500 winner, will join his famous, late father in NASCAR’s Hall of Fame after being selected as one of three members of the 2021 class. The other inductees are Red Farmer and the late Mike Stefanik. Ralph Seagraves was chosen as the Landmark Award winner. Earnhardt Jr. received 76% of the votes in his first appearance on the ballot.
Baseball: Longtime Giants P Mike McCormick, who won the Cy Young Award in 1967, has died. He was 81. The Giants said McCormick died Saturday at his home in North Carolina after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. McCormick played 16 years in the majors from 1956-71 with the Giants, Orioles, Senators, Yankees and Royals. He had a 134-128 record with a 3.73 ERA.