Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll recently gave a ton of praise to Colin Kaepernick for protesting against police brutality and racial injustice in 2016. He was on the Ringer’s Flying Coach podcast with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and said, “we owe a tremendous amount” to the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback. Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem throughout the entire 2016 season, and many believe teams wouldn’t sign him because of it.
“I think that there was a moment in time that a young man captured,” Carroll said via ESPN. He took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take. […] But what happened from the process is it elevated awareness from people that just took everything away from what the statement was all about, and it just got tugged and pulled and ripped apart.” Carroll went on to say what Kaepernick was trying to make aware of is something we are struggling with today. “We’re not making the right choices,” he added. “We’re not following the right process to bring people to justice when actions are taken. So I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that a young man makes, but those are the courageous moments that some guys take. And we owe a tremendous amount to him for sure.”
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Carroll brought up Kaepernick because he was asked about his actions related to the death of George Floyd. Last week, Floyd, a black man from Minnesota, was killed when a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. The officer, Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and the incident has led to protests and riots all across the country.
Once everyone saw the death of Floyd, Kapernick’s name was brought up. In a recent article by CNN, former NFL executive Joe Lockhart explained the Minnesota Vikings need to sign him right now. He also explained why teams haven’t signed Kapernick who has been out of the league since the end of 2016. “No teams wanted to sign a player — even one as talented as Kaepernick — whom they saw as controversial, and, therefore, bad for business,” Lockhart wrote.
