Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has insight into Colin Kaepernick that most executives around the league do not have.
Adofo-Mensah, who worked in the San Francisco 49ers’ football research and development department from 2013 to 2019, spent four seasons with the polarizing quarterback turned civil rights activist.
Kaepernick had his first workout since 2017 with the Las Vegas Raiders last week, breaking the ice on the former Super Bowl quarterback’s return to the NFL.
Speaking with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Adofo-Mensah addressed whether his staff has considered giving Kaepernick a look.
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‘We Consider Everything’
On the May 25 episode of Pro Football Talk’s “PFT PM” podcast, Adofo-Mensah recalled his impression of Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to a Super Bowl in the 2013 season.
“I remember we played Green Bay on the road [in 2013]. It was unbelievably cold. It’s pregame warmups he comes out for the huddle and he flips off the jacket — short sleeves. I remember turning to whoever I was with and saying, ‘We’re going to win this game,'” Adofo-Mensah told Florio. “You talk about leadership and following someone through something. That stamped to me who he was. They had a lot of great players on that team that he was around. I look back at those times so fondly.”
Asked whether the Vikings considered giving Kaepernick a tryout, Adofo-Mensah touted his staff’s process of evaluating talent and considering all possibilities.
“We do player evaluations. It’s exhaustive. We consider everything. If you’re not considering all the options out there, especially at a position like that, you’re probably doing it wrong,” he said. “We have ongoing conversations all the time. I don’t want to be specific about whether it was him or anybody else, but that’s our job in personnel — to be open-minded and creative about solutions — and we’ll continue to do so.”
After his May 26 workout with the Raiders, a source with knowledge of the situation said Kaepernick had interest from two other teams.
Minnesota currently has four quarterbacks rostered: Kirk Cousins, Sean Mannion, Kellen Mond and Nate Stanley. Whether Kaepernick, 34, who is a year older than Russell Wilson, who hopes to play another decade, gets another shot at the NFL remains to be seen, but Adofo-Mensah said he hoped that it would be on his terms after years of suspected blackballing by league ownership.
“I wish that everybody gets to go out on their own terms,” Adofo-Mensah said. “If he does want to play I do hope it is able to happen for him.”
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Study: NFL Fans Have Changed Since Kaepernick’s Protest in 2016
Despite the polarizing nature of Kapernick’s national anthem protest in 2016, NFL fans have shifted their opinion of Kaepernick’s actions, a recent study shows.
In 2020, Gamblers Pick surveyed 1,000 self-reported NFL fans and found that 49.6% of respondents who had opposed his kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 have changed their opinion of his protest.
While 51.6% of respondents said they supported his protest initially, 48.4% of respondents reported they either opposed or did not support his actions.
But following the police killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd in May 2020, the NFL has warmed up to the civil protest Kaepernick was once vilified for.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league was “wrong” for not listening to protesting players earlier, saying “Black lives matter” before committing $250 million to a 10-year initiative to combat systemic racism in June 2020.
“We, the National Football League admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black lives matter. I personally protest with you and want to be part of the much needed change in this country,” Goodell said, per NFL.com.
Fans have shown a change, too, with nearly 70% of respondents to Gamblers Pick’s survey expressing support of Black Lives Matter and only 14.7% explicitly opposed.
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Vikings GM Makes Strong Statement on Giving Colin Kaepernick a Chance