Report: Kaepernick says that a decade after taking a knee, he shuns the NFL for ‘blackballing’ him

NEW YORK (AP) — Colin Kaepernick still watches football.

Just not the NFL.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback told NBC News in an interview that he prefers to watch the college game instead.

The 38-year-old Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, hasn’t played since the 2016 season finale, an exile that began not long after he started taking a knee during the national anthem to highlight social injustices.

“I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well,” Kaepernick said.

Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid, who knelt alongside Kaepernick, sued the NFL citing collusion. The two sides settled in early 2019.

During a hiatus that eventually became a retirement, Kaepernick has stayed busy. His “Know Your Rights” camps are designed to educate young people and his foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.

Asked by the network if he thinks about his legacy at all, Kaepernick said it doesn’t cross his mind.

“What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together,” he said. “At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that’s a positive one.”

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here