The man Colin Kaepernick replaced as the 49ers’ starting quarterback called it “absurd” that Kaepernick doesn’t have an NFL job.
The man who named him the starter wants Kaepernick to have one.
“I love Colin, did then, do now, always will,” former 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami on “The TK Show” this week (H/T Bleacher Report’s Timothy Rapp). “I hope he gets a shot. I hope that he has a chance to play again and that he does play. Just my personal view on it. Don't know all the ramifications, but I keep in touch with both Alex [Smith] and Colin. I'd love to see Colin get another shot at playing, I love watching him play football. And I hope Alex can come back (from his injury), too.”
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Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016. He first sat, then kneeled, during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality and systemic injustice. Kaepernick opted out of his 49ers contract after incoming general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan told him he’d be released otherwise, and no NFL team has signed the QB since then.
Harbaugh, now the coach at the University of Michigan, said in 2016 he “didn’t respect the motivation or the action” of Kaepernick’s protest. But Harbaugh, who faced criticism for sticking with Kaepernick as the 49ers’ QB in 2012 even after Smith recovered from a concussion, tweeted later that he supported “Colin’s motivation” and not the “method of action.”
The coach’s views evolved as he reflected on Kaepernick’s words and saw some of his Michigan players protest by raising their fists during the anthem. He called Kaepernick “a hero” in a 2017 interview with The MMQB, and he wrote on behalf of Kaepernick when Time named the QB one of its 100 most influential people in 2017.
“I thank Colin for all he has contributed to the game of football as an outstanding player and trusted teammate,” Harbaugh wrote. “I also applaud Colin for the courage he has demonstrated in exercising his guaranteed right of free speech. His willingness to take a position at personal cost is now part of our American story.
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“How lucky for us all and for our country to have among our citizens someone as remarkable as Colin Kaepernick.”
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Harbaugh told NFL teams calling about Kaepernick that year that the QB was still capable of playing at an elite level and winning championships. His recommendation didn’t lead to Kaepernick signing with a new team, and Kaepernick ultimately settled a collusion lawsuit with the NFL last year.
Although Harbaugh’s opinions changed, the league’s front offices -- like many people around the country in the four years since Kaepernick began protesting -- seem to have made up their mind on the QB.
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