Colin Kaepernick the protester already had support in the Seahawks locker room.
Now that there’s at least the suggestion of the potential for a possible deal there maybe, one of their most vocal players said he thinks the move would be well-received.
Defensive end Michael Bennett said during an interview on 710 ESPN that he thought Seattle would be the “perfect place” for Kaepernick.
“I think a person that’s dedicating their life to creating change, why wouldn’t you want that type of leadership in your locker room?” Bennett said. “Why wouldn’t you want a young person that’s dealt with people wanting to kill him because of his choices in life? So I don’t know why people feel like that is a problem.
“I think that Kaepernick getting the opportunity to be on our team would be really cool, would really be a good place for him because you have a coach like coach [Pete] Carroll who is up for challenges like that. You have an owner who spends and gives back to the homeless. You’ve got players on your team that give back in the community. You’ve got Russell Wilson who shows that our team is built around community. So this is a perfect place for him.”
Of course, Bennett was already on the record as being in Kaepernick’s corner last year, when the former 49ers quarterback was kneeling during the national anthem. But Bennett also thinks it would be a good fit on the field, for a team without a proven option behind Wilson.
“I think you look at the things he’s done over the years, on this team, we’re a running-based offense and [to] be able to play the [read] option would give him a lot of opportunities to be able to be a featured player in the NFL again,” Bennett said. “I think we’ve got a great system, great players, and we’ve got Russell, who’s won a lot of games too. So it’d be good for him.”
While the Seahawks are the only team known to have reached out to Kaepernick, it’s still far from clear whether they actually want him. But if they were waiting to see how the trial balloon would go over in their locker room, they now have their answer — such that they wouldn’t have anticipated it.