By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor
In an interview on April 28, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis became the first owner to speak on Colin Kaepernick possibly having an opportunity to play in the NFL again.
“I believe in Colin Kaepernick,” Davis said, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “He deserves every chance in the world to become a quarterback in the National Football League. I still stand by it. If our coaches and general manager want to bring him in or want him to be the quarterback on this team, I would welcome him with open arms.”
Kaepernick, 34, has been speaking out a lot lately about wanting to play in the NFL again. Though he has been quiet over the last four years he has recently become more vocal. Kaepernick hasn’t played NFL football since 2016. Back then he played with the San Francisco 49ers, but he was blackballed by the 32 owners who control policy in the NFL after silently protesting police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem at the start of each game. He was then joined by other players.
After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 the NFL was compelled to change its stance on how they dealt with players protesting in various ways. In 2020, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell put out a statement that in part said, “we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”
The current makeup of players in the NFL is over 78 percent Black.
In Michigan for an exhibition game on April 2, Kaepernick said he can “absolutely still play in the NFL,” “and I can help make you a better team. I can help you win games.”
Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered. She may be contacted at [email protected] and on twitter at @LVBurke
