Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said “we owe a tremendous amount” to Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand against police brutality and racial oppression in 2016.
“I think that there was a moment in time that a young man captured. He took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take,” Carroll said while speaking on The Ringer’s “Flying Coach” podcast with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Tuesday.
“… But what happened from the process is it elevated awareness from people that just took everything away from what the statement was all about, and it just got tugged and pulled and ripped apart.
“And the whole mission of what the statement was, such a beautiful … it’s still the statement that we’re making right today. We’re not protecting our people. We’re not looking after one another. We’re not making the right choices. We’re not following the right process to bring people to justice when actions are taken. So I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that a young man makes, but those are the courageous moments that some guys take.nfl nike jerseys cheap
Kaepernick’s actions came up on the podcast when Carroll was asked about how it relates to recent events, including the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, was killed last week in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. On Wednesday, Chauvin’s charge was upgraded to unintentional second-degree murder, while the other three officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, according to criminal complaints.nike nfl jerseys for cheap
Kaepernick’s decision to protest during the anthem — and his inability to get back into the NFL after the 2016 season — came back to the forefront because of Floyd’s death, as well as a piece on CNN.com by former NFL executive Joe Lockhart in which he urged a team, specifically the Minnesota Vikings, to sign the quarterback who many had believed was “bad for business.”
“To me, it’s really hard to look at what’s going on right now with all the violence and the protests and not look back to four years ago and say, ‘Look, this guy [Kaepernick] was trying to peacefully protest and nothing came of it,” Kerr said. “The killings went on and nothing changed and he was actually ridiculed, so it’s a real tough one to think about.”
The Seahawks were linked to Kaepernick two years ago, when they discussed hosting the free-agent quarterback for a preseason workout. But the April visit was called off after Kaepernick declined to inform the Seahawks whether he planned to stop kneeling for the anthem, according to ESPN and multiple reports.
Sources told ESPN at the time that Kaepernick was unwilling to give any assurances to the Seahawks, who wanted to know that he would not kneel before games during the 2018 season. Carroll publicly acknowledged the Seahawks’ interest in Kaepernick but said in April 2018 that reports of what happened with the intended workout were “blown up.”
Kaepernick, who also visited with the Seahawks in 2017, probably would have competed for a backup role behind Russell Wilson with the Seahawks, who also had quarterbacks Stephen Morris and Austin Davis on their roster at the time of the planned workout.