Quarterback-needy Washington twice passed up on signing former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, and that didn't set will with current Niners corner Richard Sherman.
He told the "PFT PM" podcast on Tuesday that it's becoming painfully clear to him teams are purposefully keeping Kaepernick out of the league.
“I think it’s one of those situations where, it’s disappointing, but that’s exactly the case, you know, because there’s nothing legally stopping the teams from doing it,” Sherman said. “There’s not enough public pressure, nothing that’s going to force a team to [sign him], you know?
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"Like at it first it was, ‘Colin Kaepernick’s stats weren’t good enough’ or ‘he stopped playing at a high level,’ and then you see some of the quarterbacks that they picked up and you’re like, ‘Well, you know, if you’re picking up Mark Sanchez, he’s has some up and down years.’ Colt McCoy’s the same way. They’ve had up and down years and Colin has played at a higher level than I would say any of those guys ever performed at the peak of their careers. You start to see stuff like that and it’s almost like teams are purposefully making it obvious that, like, they’re keeping him out."
Sherman would know.
His Seattle Seahawks squared off against a Kaepernick-led 49ers squad nine times in the regular season and playoffs. Seattle won seven of those games, including the last NFL game Kaepernick played on Jan. 1, 2017. Kaepernick wasn't great in those games, but he and the 49ers were a Sherman tipped pass away from winning a second consecutive NFC championshipin 2014.
Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance against the NFL last year, and a trial reportedly set to take place early next year in Philadelphia. The QB became a free agent in 2017, the off-season after he was the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial and social injustice. He has not been signed since.
San Francisco 49ers
When Kaepernick's case is eventually heard, that may be the external catalyst for teams to sign him, one that Sherman says they currently lack.