The head of the professional American football league, Roger Goodell, encouraged the teams on Monday to recruit the quarterback Colin Kaepernick, without a team for three years for having put his knees on the ground during the national anthem.
"If he wants to resume his NFL career, then obviously a team will have to make that decision" to hire him, Goodell told ESPN. "But I would be delighted, I support any club that will make this decision and I encourage the clubs to do so".
Amicable settlement with the League in 2019
Kaepernick, 32, has not played since January 1, 2017 and a playoff elimination with San Francisco against Seattle. In the season that began four months earlier, he knelt before the games to protest the police brutality against the blacks.
At the end of the contract, he had not been kept by the 49ers, and no club wished to recruit him. He then entered into conflict with the NFL, believing that he was unfairly denied a job, before finding an amicable settlement in February 2019. After which, the league organized a training so that he could convince franchises to hire him. In vain.
The NFL admits "it was wrong not to listen to the players" on racism via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/Is5lOWfcHD
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) June 6, 2020Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Friday he had received a call from a leader of a team interested in Kaepernick, asking for his advice. Until the horizon eventually clears for the player, the NFL is willing to work with him to combat racial injustice as it committed to do after the death of George Floyd.
“If his efforts are not focused on the ground but he continues to work in this area, we welcome him to our table, to guide us, to help us make the best decisions on what needs to be done in the communities, "said Goodell.
Goodell's apologies
The latter apologized in early June on behalf of the NFL to players in his league for not having listened to and supported them earlier in the fight against racism, without having directly spoken to Kaepernick.
On Monday, he paid tribute to all the players, he and others, who have risen in recent years against injustice and racial violence. “What they were talking about, what they were protesting against, what they were trying to draw attention to, was happening before our eyes. Tragically, ”he agreed.
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