Colin Kaepernick got his tryout with the Las Vegas Raiders but he has yet to be signed by them or any NFL team this offseason. Whether or not he gets a shot to return to the league for the first time since 2016 remains to be seen, but one person who thinks he deserves a shot is Hall of Fame linebacker and former San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary.
Singletary, who was fired by the 49ers right before they drafted Kaepernick, told Outkick 360 that he hopes the social activist gets a shot to see if he can still play in the NFL.
“I hope so,” said Singletary. “I think that’s a young man that deserves a chance to play. I think he was really misunderstood. I think something that he did, the decision that he made to stand, and I’m not quite even sure that’s what it was at the beginning. But people took it and made it something that I think it wasn’t. And the young man’s not playing. And that’s what he loves to do. And I think there are guys who are playing that have done a lot worse.”
When asked how a head coach would handle everything that comes with having Kaepernick and the media circus that would follow him around, Singletary said that it’s about ensuring there is clear leadership in the locker room.
“Any coach that takes a Colin Kaepernick, he has to have the leadership of that locker room,” said Singletary. “There has to be someone that comes alongside Colin and says ‘Hey Colin, look, if we get you, this is what it’s gonna be. You’re gonna have to do this. You’re gonna have to do that.’ It’s kinda like a Jackie Robinson situation. You gotta know coming in that this is gonna happen, that’s gonna happen, and can you handle that? Give me your word that you can handle it and if you can handle it, let’s go.”
[Outkick]
