ESPN star Stephen A. Smith torched the notion of Colin Kaepernick returning to the NFL to play quarterback for a team, even as the free-agent player revealed he’s still angling for a chance nearly eight years after finishing up his last season with the San Francisco 49ers.
At the same time, Smith said the possibility of Kaepernick joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers as a coach is something he could get behind. But he didn’t want to hear anything about him playing another down in the NFL anymore.
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He made his remarks on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" on Wednesday.
"And now that he is back in the National Football League, he has earned the right to do what he wants if he wants to bring in Colin Kaepernick there, cool, no problem," Smith said. "I think Colin Kaepernick would be a good coach. I think that Colin Kaepernick, if he wants the opportunity, should be the coach. What I would say, however, is, I don’t want to hear s--- about him being a quarterback no more.
"That ship should have sailed. Not only has it sailed, it should have sailed. I know some people don’t want to say it, I will. Now we’re going to ignore the fact that over his last two years quarterbacking in the National Football League in 2015 and 2016, Colin Kaepernick’s total record as a starter was 3-16. We’re going to ignore the fact that he hasn’t played football since that time?"
Smith expressed his belief that Kaepernick was "blackballed" from the league after taking a knee to protest social injustices in the U.S. during the 2016 season and scolded team owners from keeping him off a roster and mentioned the settlement he agreed to with the league.
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He also recalled Kaepernick bailing on an NFL-sponsored workout over a waiver in which he decided to have his tryout elsewhere. Smith said at the time Kaepernick wanted to be a "martyr" and remembered taking flak for the comment but standing by it.
Smith said that if the Harbaugh offer is serious, Kaepernick should take it.
"This becomes interesting because Jim Harbaugh is the coach, he’s the money man, he’s the face of the Chargers franchise, and if Colin Kaepernick wants to coach in the National Football League and Jim Harbaugh says, ‘Yo, come do this,’ two things could happen: the owners could get in the way and pose resistance, (Dean) Spanos and those guys in L.A., that could happen because they could be scared even as a coach he is taking a knee again.
"And if they’re not scared of that, maybe they’re scared of Jim Harbaugh saying, ‘Now that you are on my coaching staff, guess what? A quarterback got hurt, and I need you to go in there instead of Justin Herbert, I need you to go in there and play.’ And that might be a way to get him back into the league, and they may be resistant to that.
"If I’m Colin Kaepernick, I take that chance. I go right there because nobody is looking out for him more in the sport of football than Jim Harbaugh. You go, you take that opportunity, because whether it’s playing or whether it’s coaching, your're back in the National Football League, and once you’re in, unless your losing or unless you’re doing something unlawful or whatever, it’s going to be pretty difficult to get you out.
"This might be his chance to get in. What are you going to do about that, bro? What [are] you going to do about it, because ain’t nobody else trying to take that chance on Colin Kaepernick. Jim Harbaugh is the perfect man to do it; props to him."
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