Colin Kaepernick still is unemployed, and his former coach thinks all the reasons given for the quarterback’s lack of opportunity in the NFL are garbage.
People have claimed Kaepernick, who knelt during the national anthem last season, was a distraction to his team, doesn’t want to play football and that he’s not a good player, among other things. But Chip Kelly, Kaepernick’s coach last season for the San Francisco 49ers, went on Adam Schefter’s podcast Wednesday and basically took a wrecking ball to those theories.
“At the beginning of the year, he made a stance in terms of what he believes is right,” Kelly said. “We recognized and supported his ability to do that. But he never brought that into the locker room … We heard from the outside about what a distraction it is, except those people weren’t in our locker room and it never was a distraction. And Kap never brought that and turned it into a circus or whatever people think.”
Kelly went on to dispell any thought that Kaepernick isn’t talented enough to play in the NFL or that he no longer wants to play in the league.
“I really enjoyed Kap. I’ve talked to Kap maybe three or four times since we both left San Francisco. I know he’s working out hard in New York now. I think he’s a really good person and a really good player, and I really enjoyed coaching him.”
And the current ESPN college football analyst would tell any coach looking for a QB to sign his former signal-caller.
“I like Kap a lot. He’s a really good person. And he really wants to win and he’s highly competitive,” Kelly said. “He’s got a real good physical skill-set to play the position and has played it at a really high level.
“I also don’t think he played at his top level last year because he was coming off three surgeries. I think the Kap this year will be better than the Kap last year … I would tell anybody that he’s zero distraction and a really talented player who can help you win.”
Looks like people will have to come up with new reasons for why Kaepernick remains unsigned.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
