Does Colin Kaepernick Still Want to Play Football in the NFL…and the Olympics?
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who last played in the NFL in 2016, was asked about the possibility of playing flag football at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“Hopefully we’ll be out there” Kaepernick told Sky Sports. “We’re going to work on some things and see if we can get it done. But we want to be out there.”
The non-contact game, which is stopped by the ball carrier ripping off one of the flags attached to a belt around his waist, will make its Olympic debut in 2028. Some NFL players have already expressed interest in playing, and the league is said to Encouraging active players to compete.
Kaepernick, 36, has not played in the NFL since parting ways with the 49ers in 2016 after he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.
“We’re still training, still pushing,” he told Sky Sports. “So, hopefully, we’ll open up one of these team owners.”
Drafted by San Francisco in the second round of the 2011 draft, Kaepernick spent his six-year NFL career with the 49ers. He led the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII, where they lost 34–31 to the Baltimore Ravens.
Kaepernick is 28-30 in the regular season with 12,271 passing yards, 72 passing touchdowns, 30 interceptions, a 59.8 completion percentage and 13 rushing touchdowns.
The 49ers, in Kaepernick’s final season with the team in 2016, went just 1-10 in his starts.
Despite some high-profile workouts and open auditions, he couldn’t garner much interest around the league.
He met with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017 and worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, but both teams declined to sign him. Kaepernick wrote a letter to the New York Jets last season, requesting that recently acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers join the practice squad after he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on the team’s first offensive possession.
“I mean, it’s something I’ve been training for my whole life,” Kaepernick said when asked by Sky Sports what it means to return to the NFL. “So to get back on the field, I think it’s a big moment for me, a big accomplishment. And I think it’s something that can bring a lot to a team and help win a championship.”
