Colin Capernick, who last played professional football in 2016 – the year he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice – is scheduled to work for the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday, league sources said. ESPN.
This will mark Kaepernick’s first training session with an NFL team since being expelled, and will be the first time the former quarterback has visited the team since flying to Seattle to meet the Seattle Seahawks in May 2017, before to miss the opportunity to sign it.
Kaepernick played at the University of Nevada, Reno, which was the only school to offer him a scholarship, and now the Nevada professional team is the only one in the NFL that is open to giving the civil rights activist another chance.
Raiders owner Mark Davis follows the spirit of his late father, Al Davis, who was active in civil rights. Al Davis became the first NFL owner of the modern era to hire a black Shell coach at Art Shell, a female CEO at Amy Trask, and also became the second NFL owner to hire a Latin American head coach at Tom Flores.
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The NFL said it encouraged teams to look at Kaepernick. But not only has Kapernik not signed a contract with any team, but he has not received a single training session other than the one currently scheduled for Wednesday.
Currently, Derek Carr is the titular defender of the Raiders, who earlier this month also exchanged reserve Jarrett Steadham in a deal with the New England Patriots. Las Vegas also has quarterback Nick Mulens, who signed with the Raiders this offseason.
The 34-year-old Copernicus recently jumped on NFL scouts at halftime of a Michigan spring game at the invitation of Jim Harbo, his former San Francisco 49ers coach.
In an interview with the I Am Athlete podcast, Kaepernick noted that both of his former Niners coaches, Harbo and Chip Kelly, said he “made the locker room better”, countering the story that he would be a distraction to any team. who signs it.
“This 2016 season, my last year, my teammates chose me as the bravest and most inspiring player,” he said. “So when you talk about the people in the building, it never turns out that I was distracting. It never turned out that I was a problem for the people I played with. “
Kaepernick also said in an interview that today’s NFL should be more “in line” with his social views, given the league’s position on other issues related to competition in the United States.
“You have ‘End of Racism’ in the back of your end zone. You have the Black Lives Matter on your helmet. “Everything I said must be in line with what you are saying in public,” he said. “It’s a $ 16 billion business. When I first got on my knees, my T-shirt went to number 1. When I made the deal with Nike, their value increased by six billion dollars. Six billion. With B.
“… So, if you’re talking about business, it’s obvious [it’s] useful. If you’re talking about the gaming side, come on in, let me compete. You can rate me from there. The NFL is supposed to be a meritocracy. Come in, let me compete. If I’m not good enough, get away from me. But let me come in and show you. “
Kaepernick said he ultimately wants to win the championship after getting so close with the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, where San Francisco lost one game in a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
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