Pete Carroll Discusses Prospect of Signing Colin Kaepernick

The Seahawks worked Kaepernick out in 2017 but ultimately decided not to sign him

Colin Kaepernick looks on during his NFL workout in November. 
(Carmen Mandato/Getty)
Colin Kaepernick looks on during his NFL workout in November. (Carmen Mandato/Getty)
Getty Images

In 2017 during the NFL offseason, Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks brought Colin Kaepernick in for a workout to see if he would be a good fit as a backup quarterback behind entrenched starter Russell Wilson.

In a Zoom call with reporters this week, the 68-year-old coach said the team was impressed with Kaepernick but didn’t sign him because they viewed him as a starter and didn’t think he would be a good fit as a second-stringer.

“The reason that wasn’t the right fit is because I held him in such high regard I didn’t see him as a backup quarterback and I didn’t want to put him in that situation with Russ,”  Carroll said. “And it just didn’t feel like the fit right so that’s the way I felt about it. I just wish it would happen. I wish we would have been a part of it when the time was available then.”

Kaepernick, as we all know, did not end up getting a starting gig with another team and did not even get a call to come and workout for any other organization. A desperation bid to hold a showcase for NFL scouts last year also went nowhere and reportedly led to “zero” interest from teams.

In the wake of the NFL changing its policy about kneeling during the national anthem and society changing its attitude about the practice as a whole, the 32-year-old quarterback may finally have a shot at returning to the league.

“After all the years that have passed, I never received a phone call about him,” Carroll said on the Zoom call. “I never talked to another head coach about it. I never talked to anybody about it until today. I got a phone call today. I’m not going to tell you who it was. I got a phone call today asking, inquiring about the situation. So I know somebody is interested. We’ll see what happens with that.”

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