NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre Believes Colin Kaepernick Will Be Hailed a Hero Like Pat Tillman

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre sparked fiery discussions on Sunday after he conducted an exclusive interview with TMZ. He said that he believes Colin Kaepernick will "be branded as a hero" in the future due to his peaceful protests during the national anthem. Favre also compared Kaepernick to Pat Tillman, a former seventh-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals who left football after Sept. 11 to become an Army Ranger. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.

"I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar," Favre told TMZ Sports. "And, we regard him as a hero. So, I'd assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well. ... It's not easy for a guy his age — black or white, Hispanic, whatever — to stop something that you've always dreamed of doing, and put it on hold, maybe forever, for something that you believe in." The former Green Bay Packers QB also said that Kaepernick gave up a legitimate NFL career to get his message out.

When Favre made this comparison, he sparked a number of reactions on social media. Several Twitter users proclaimed that he is a "hillbilly" full of bad takes while others said that he is disgracing Tillman's memory. This was not a universal opinion, however, considering that many people on social media completely agreed with Favre and said that Kaepernick is already a hero.