Wednesday, President Donald Trump said that Colin Kaepernick should be given an opportunity to return to the NFL if he still knows how to play.
What We Know:
- Kaepernick was the 49ers’ starting quarterback from 2012 until the middle of the 2015 season, when he had to undergo surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. With his 11 starts, the 49ers were 1-10.
- Kaepernick started protesting police brutality and racial injustice during the 2016 preseason, by kneeling during the national anthem.
- He received a lot of backlash from people, fans, and the NFL. He then opted out of his contract in March 2017 and NFL refused to sign Kaepernick back because “they didn’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump.” Later, Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance against the NFL, which was settled in 2019.
- Trump regularly criticized Kaepernick on social media by tweeting- “Get that son of a b—– off the field now!! He’s fired!” His statement at a 2017 political rally in Alabama aroused the debate over kneeling during the national anthem as a form of political protest.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—– off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired!’,” Trump said. “You know, some owner is gonna do that.”
- Trump’s comments during his interview with WJLA’s Scott Thurman came as a surprise as he expressed “Absolutely I would” support Kaepernick’s return to the NFL.
- “If he deserves it, he should,” Trump said when asked if Kaepernick should get another shot in the NFL. “If he has the playing ability. He started off great, and then he didn’t end up very great in terms of a player. He was terrific in his rookie year. I think he was very good in his second year. And then something happened. So his playing wasn’t up to snuff.”
“The answer is absolutely I would. As far as kneeling, I would love to see him get another shot. But obviously he has to be able to play well. If he can’t play well, I think it would be very unfair.”
- After Trump’s theme of his political platform being centered around Kaepernick’s reasoning of kneeling during the national anthem, Trump is seen as a motivating force to the banishment of Kaepernick from the NFL.
Trump is all for Kaepernick playing for the NFL again, but not if he is going to kneel.
