Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick hasn’t been shy in voicing his desire to return to the NFL, but he raised eyebrows everywhere when he recently admitted that he’s not watched an NFL game in almost a decade.
While appearing at the Wall Street Journal Tech Live Conference earlier in the week, he said that he’s not watched a game in eight years, which would coincide with the last time that he took the field as an NFL player, via Page Six:
The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton asked, “You typically haven’t watched the NFL much lately?” only to have the former quarterback reply, “I haven’t watched a game in eight years.”
Kaepernick, who is now involved in the tech startup Lumi, also said that he still checks the stats of players – but doesn’t want to lend support to a league that won’t employ him any longer.
“Oh, I still check everybody’s stats,” he said. “It also informs who my agent reaches out to, but I still check the stats. I see what’s going on; I don’t ever turn a game on though because I’m not gonna support in that way, but I need to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening with quarterbacks out there.”
“I still wake up every morning and train. I’ve had to adjust my schedule a little bit, which saying this out loud sounds a little bizarre, but I get up at 3:30 a.m. and I start my workday, and then I go do my training,” he said. “I still train every day. I still train the way I was when I was playing, making sure that I’m ready at any given moment.”
Kaepernick last played in the NFL for the 49ers in January of 2017 in what was a 25-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains a polarizing figure
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY SportsKaepernick made headlines everywhere when he began kneeling during the singing of the national anthem prior to games in the 2016 season to protest police brutality and racial inequalities and also settled a grievance against the NFL after alleging that it was trying to keep him out of the game.
In career games, he racked up 12,271 passing yards with 72 touchdowns, 30 interceptions, 2,300 rushing yards, and 13 rushing touchdowns. He will turn 37 years old on Nov. 3.
