Colin Kaepernick Visits Seahawks In Free Agency After Team Voices Interest

Colin Kaepernick visited the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday after the team expressed interest in the free-agent quarterback.

Colin Kaepernick Visits Seahawks in Free Agency

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Seahawks hope to work out several play-callers and that Kaepernick is among them.

Last week, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll revealed to ESPN that the team is considering all options for backup quarterbacks, including Kaepernick and former Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III. 

“We’re looking at everybody. We really are,” Carroll said during an interview on 710 ESPN Seattle. “We’ve been tracking everything that’s going on, and we’ve got cap and roster issues and stuff like that that we’re still trying to manage properly. But quite frankly, yes, we are looking at all those guys.”

NFL Network’s Michael Silver initially reported on May 15 that Seahawks general manager John Schneider had contacted Kaepernick’s agent.

The Seahawks are currently missing a backup for starting QB Russell Wilson, since 2016 undrafted free agent Trevone Boykin is listed at No. 2 on the depth chart. Wilson sustained three different injuries last season, while Boykin was arrested on misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession and public intoxication in March. Boykin was arrested in April for possibly violating his probation due to the same reasons.

Kaepernick went 1-10 as a starter with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, but threw for 2,241 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions, while rushing for 468 yards and two more scores. He also led San Francisco to the Super Bowl against the Baltimore Ravens in 2013.

Despite boasting 58 career regular-season starts, the 29-year-old former 49ers backup quarterback has yet to sign with a team. Kaepernick, a 2011 second-round pick who is half-black, has been shunned by many NFL teams ever since he sat and then knelt before a preseason game in August 2016 during the playing of the national anthem in order to protest racial injustice and police brutality against minorities, especially African-Americans. Several other football players and athletes from other leagues repeated Kaepernick’s protest in their own way by kneeling, linking arms, or raising their fists.

Kaepernick has also gained a reputation as a dedicated social activist. In March, he and several other celebrities partnered with Turkish Airlines to send foot, water and aid to Somalia, a country that has been beleaguered by famine. The quarterback also announced, shortly after launching his flag-and-anthem protests last fall, that he pledged to donate $1 million of his salary (over several months) to several charities committed to helping troubled communities, particularly those in San Francisco and in Milwaukee, where he was born.

BUFFALO, NY – OCTOBER 16: Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers looks to throw against the Buffalo Bills during the first half at New Era Field on October 16, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)