Getty Colin Kaepernick #7 and Eric Reid #35 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel in protest during the national anthem prior to playing the Los Angeles Rams in their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on September 12, 2016 in Santa Clara, California.
Will Colin Kaepernick play NFL football again?
“Wow, I was just having this conversation with my girlfriend,” two-time Super Bowl Champion, Carl Banks told me on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show with guest co-host Brian Mazique.
“Because she’s like, ‘It’s a damn shame he’s not playing!’ There’s a part of me that says no. There’s a part of me that says, ‘You know what? If y’all want me, cool. Let me think about it. But I’m not begging you to be on the football field anymore.’ Because I think that the window opened and closed again without any team giving consideration and I think it would be – I just don’t think mentally; and I don’t know him, but just the fact that he’s been left out and there’s so many opportunities for him to come in and play. I just don’t think he’s all about playing anymore. I could be wrong though.”
It all began during the San Francisco 49ers’ preseason when Kaepernick kneeled during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. Kapernick insists that he did it to show more respect to former and current U.S. military members while still protesting during the anthem after having a conversation with former NFL player and U.S. military veteran Nate Boyer.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Network’s Steve Wyche.
Kaepernick led the San Francisco 49ers to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII and was in a contract year when he took his stance on the American Flag.
What’s next?
“I think he’ll be carrying the weight of his movement,” Carl Banks tells Heavy Live With Scoop B.
“Because he’s the one who LITERALLY opened the eyes of all the people that hated him and they had to change their narratives. When the commissioner said he was wrong and he should’ve listened, he knew what it was. But it’s like until the guy gets murdered on your front lawn, you just didn’t see it; you don’t think those things start to happen in America. But I think that the commissioner knew what his point was and his partner NFL teams knew what it was. But, it was an economic decision because his network partners continued to show him kneeling so then that it became a ‘sticking point’ – a thing to talk about and then you have a President who amplifies it and it just became financially risky to have him continue to be a part of anything.”