President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Colin Kaepernick should be given an opportunity to return to the NFL, if he shows he can play at that level.
"If he deserves it, he should, if he has the playing ability," Trump said in response to a question by Sinclair/Full Measure reporter Scott Thuman at the White House.
"Absolutely I would," support @Kaepernick7 getting a 2nd shot in the @NFL -- @POTUS in my interview today on racism, policing, statues & yes--sports. #ColinKaepernick pic.twitter.com/0B83cNbesW
— Scott Thuman (@ScottThuman) June 17, 2020
"He started off great and then he didn't end up very great in terms of as a player," the president said of Kaepernick's career.
Kaepernick was the 49ers' starter from the middle of the 2012 season, when he quarterbacked the team to Super Bowl 47, to the middle of the 2015 season, when he underwent surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. He also had knee and thumb surgeries in January 2016.
He lost the starting job to his replacement, Blaine Gabbert, in the 2016 preseason but got it back in Week 6 that year after San Francisco began the regular season 1-4. He finished the year with a 90.7 passer rating and 16:4 touchdown-to-interception ratio in 12 games. The 49ers were 1-10 in his 11 starts.
MORE: Six best fits for Kaepernick | Kneeling timeline
During that 2016 preseason, Kaepernick began protesting police brutality and racial injustice in the U.S. by sitting, and then kneeling, during the national anthem. He continued to kneel throughout the regular season. He has been out of the league since opting out of his contract in March 2017. Kaepernick later filed a collusion grievance against the NFL that was settled in 2019.
Trump has regularly criticized Kaepernick and other NFL players for taking a knee; he said in 2017 that he would like to see teams "fire" such players. The president tweeted Saturday that he would bocyott watching the NFL if players are allowed to kneel. He told Thuman he was "very disappointed" in the NFL and U.S. Soccer recently loosening restrictions on players taking a knee as protests against the same things Kaepernick protested have grown.
"We have to show respect for our flag and for our national anthem," he said.
"I was very disappointed in the @NFL" and "I was very disappointed in @ussoccer" -President Trump tells me on the issue of kneeling & race relations. #NFL @USWNT #soccer pic.twitter.com/0vaVdEU3LY
— Scott Thuman (@ScottThuman) June 17, 2020
Trump took a similar, but more forceful, stance Wednesday night in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity.
"When the national anthem plays and our flag, the great American flag, is raised, you should not be kneeling." Trump said (per Pro Football Talk). "You should be standing, ideally with your hand on your heart or saluting. But they should not be kneeling. They can protest enough, and I saw the NFL get very weak."
He also said he was "surprised" NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made a statement in which he admitted the league was wrong "for not listening to NFL players earlier" and encouraged "all to speak out and peacefully protest."
"Nobody was even asking for it," Trump said.
Goodell was responding to a video posted the previous day by more than a dozen of the NFL's top players, including Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, asking the league to "condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people."
Earlier Wednesday, in his interview with Thuman, Trump kept his answer about Kaepernick to his playing ability.
"As far as kneeling, I would love to see him get another shot, but obviously he has to be able to play well. If he can't play well, [then] I think it would be very unfair," he said.
Trump reentered the kneeling discussion in recent weeks after Saints quarterback Drew Brees, facing sharp criticism from teammates, backtracked from saying in an interview with Yahoo Finance that he could "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country" by kneeling. Brees spoke with Yahoo as people were protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the knee of a police officer.
Trump believed Brees should not have "taken back" his original statement. Brees responded on Instagram that he realized, after speaking with teammates, that kneeling has never been about the flag. "We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform," Brees wrote.
"I just don't get" why Brees "retracted" his "beautiful" initial statement, Trump told Hannity.
Trump made his remarks to Thuman the same day Chargers coach Anthony Lynn told reporters that "it would be crazy" not to have Kaepernick on the team's list of players to work out if it were to need a quarterback. Lynn added that Kaepernick "fits our style" of offense. LA's top two quarterbacks are veteran Tyrod Taylor and first-round draft pick Justin Herbert.
Lynn's comments came two days after Goodell told ESPN he would "encourage" a team to sign Kaepernick.
