Whether an NFL team wants Colin Kaepernick remains to be seen, but he wants to play.
That’s the word from Dave Zirin of The Nation, who wrote on Twitter today that he has talked to Kaepernick, and Kaepernick remains committed to football.
Zirin was responding to a report from Peter King of TheMMQB.com that sources with the 49ers “think Kaepernick might actually rather do social justice work full-time than play quarterback.” The analogy Zirin used is that Kaepernick’s presence at events like a recent Know Your Rights camp no more means he’s giving up football for social justice work than Tom Brady’s presence at the Kentucky Derby means he’s giving up football for horse racing.
According to Zirin, Kaepernick is working out every day and hoping to get invited to some team’s training camp.
At this point it’s unclear whether any team has even offered Kaepernick a “camp arm” type of deal, one that would allow him to come in and show what he can do, even if it’s on a team that already has an established starter. If he hasn’t even received that type of offer, then teams are being foolish: Even if teams think Kaepernick’s skills have declined significantly since he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl, he has certainly accomplished enough on the field that he’s worth a look as a backup.
If no team is even willing to make him that kind of offer, it will be impossible to escape the conclusion that NFL teams are letting their opinions of Kaepernick’s political views color their own views of his abilities as a quarterback.