Colin Kaepernick at one point in time was considered the NFL’s next big star, after leading the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl XLVII. Seven years later though, Kaepernick has not played in an NFL game in three seasons and has seemed to be blackballed by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem.
The fact that the now 32-year-old Kaepernick is not on an NFL roster has some people furious, including the guy Kaepernick replaced as the starter in San Francisco, Alex Smith.
In speaking with USA Today about his former teammate, Smith said that it is “absurd” that his former teammate does not have a job. “It was hard to kind of see that trajectory because he was playing so good, and doing things nobody had done,” Smith said. “I think he still holds the single-game rushing record for a quarterback. It was crazy. So with that said, it was so absurd – I think equally – that it was only a few years later when you’re like, ‘This guy doesn’t have a job.’ That was hard to imagine. It still is, a guy with his ability and his trajectory that all of a sudden wasn’t playing.”
Since opting out of his contract back in 2016, Kaepernick has remained unsigned despite injury after injury to starting NFL quarterbacks, including Smith back in 2018.
Kaepernick held a highly publicized open workout for NFL teams in the middle of last season, but no team signed the former starter.
Kaepernick burst onto the scene back in 2012, specifically during the postseason where he rushed for an NFL single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback, rushing for 181 yards against the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of that season, eventually leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
For his career, Kaepernick has thrown for 12,271 yards, 72 touchdowns, and 30 interceptions and had a completion percentage of 59.8%. As a rusher, Kaepernick has rushed for 2,300 yards and 13 touchdowns in his career.
