The NFL was able to get through its recent owners meetings without so much of a mention of unemployed quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
That does not mean he has gone away, at least in the minds of the young stars of the league.
Giants running back Saquon Barkley said he met Kaepernick at a charity flag football game in Atlanta hosted by the rapper Quavo, and (note to the personnel types who recently asked 38-year-old J.P. Losman if he wanted a tryout) caught a touchdown pass from the former 49ers quarterback.
But it wasn’t his football skills Barkley was most impressed by, rather the work he’s done for awareness and a number of chariities.
“Yeah definitely, whoa. Colin Kaepernick, I definitely went up and talked to him,” Barkley told Fox 5 Atlanta, via the New York Daily News. “I came up to [Kaepernick] and told him first and foremost I don’t mean to come off as a fan, but I’m a big fan. I just respect everything that he did, and he gave me a lot of great advice off the field and on the field.
“And when you see a guy that [did what] he did at a high level and the impact that he had on just America as a whole. He definitely listened and I appreciated him taking the time to talk.”
Kaepernick hasn’t been able to find a job since after the 2016 season, when he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. Reuben Foster was claimed off waivers by Washington hours after the 49ers released him for a domestic violence arrest.