Goodell encourages NFL clubs to sign Colin Kaepernick

LOS ANGELES

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he would welcome exiled quarterback Colin Kaepernick back into the league in any capacity, including as a player.

Goodell told ESPN.com that he encourages teams to sign the 32-year old former San Francisco 49ers player and invites Kaepernick's input on racial and social programs that are being financed by the league.

"If he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it's gonna take a team to make that decision," Goodell said. "But I welcome that, support a club making that decision, and encourage them to do that.

Goodell admitted earlier this month that the league was wrong to silence player protests as it responded to calls from a group of players to issue an explicit condemnation of racism.

Kaepernick filed a grievance with the NFL in 2017 alleging the owners conspired to keep him out of the league after he sparked a kneeling campaign to protest treatment of blacks in America. In February 2019, he settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

That same month multiple U.S. media outlets reported Kaepernick was in talks with the Alliance of American Football about a job but wanted a guaranteed $20 million per season. At the time quarterbacks were making an average of $250,000 a year.

Last November, Kaepernick balked at an NFL-arranged workout for all 32 teams and instead decided at the last minute to stage his own on an Atlanta-area high school field which was attended by scouts from eight teams.

Kaepernick has not played in the NFL in four years. In 12 games with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, he completed 59.2 percent of his passes, threw 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.

A second-round draft pick in 2011, Kaepernick started 58 games over six seasons with the 49ers and passed for 12,271 yards with 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.

During the 2012 season, he led San Francisco to Super Bowl XLVII, a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.