Colin Kaepernick hasn't played in the NFL for three years, and one former NFL executive has addressed how the former 49ers quarterback's decision to kneel to protest police brutality impacted his football career.
In a column for CNN, Joe Lockhart, the former NFL vice president of communications from 2016-18, discussed how Kaepernick's silent protests shook team owners and started a social justice conversation around the league. However, Lockhart also admitted what no one at the NFL has ever explicitly stated about the situation:
"No teams wanted to sign a player—even one as talented as Kaepernick—whom they saw as controversial, and, therefore, bad for business.