Kaepernick refuses to watch NFL

NEW YORK (AP):

Colin Kaepernick still watches football.

Just not the NFL.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback told NBC News in an interview that he prefers to watch college football instead.

Kaepernick, 38, led the 49ers to the Super Bowl following the 2012 season. He has not played since the 2016 season finale, an exile that began not long after he started taking a knee during the national anthem to draw attention to social injustice.

“I’m not gonna support an organisation that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well,” Kaepernick said.

Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid, who knelt alongside him, sued the NFL, alleging collusion. The parties reached a settlement in early 2019.

During a hiatus that eventually became retirement, Kaepernick has remained active. His Know Your Rights camps are designed to educate young people, while his foundation helps fund independent autopsies, including one recently conducted in the case of Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.

Asked by the network whether he ever thinks about his legacy, Kaepernick said the subject rarely crosses his mind.

“What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together,” he said. “At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that’s a positive one.”