Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick has joined the board of an online publishing platform while talks of his return to football as a quarterback continue.
Medium plans to announce that Kaepernick is joining the company’s board and partnering with it to create and consult on content related to race and prison reform, according to the Washington Post.
The ex-San Francisco 49ers star will take part in a question-and-answer session with athletes and activists, which is tentatively called “Conversations with Colin,” and he will also consult on several feature articles that will be published on the site.
Kaepernick became the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem in 2016, citing concerns about police brutality.
Kaepernick ultimately filed a grievance against the NFL after he struggled to find another job when his contract with San Francisco expired, arguing that he was colluded against by the NFL. The league ended up settling with him for an undisclosed amount.
President Trump, a vocal critic of Kaepernick and anthem kneeling in general over the years, surprised many by saying this week that he’d “love” to see the quarterback in the league if he possessed the necessary talent.
“If he deserves it, he should,” Trump said. “If he has the playing ability. He started off great, and then he didn’t end up very great … as a player. He was terrific in his rookie year, I think he was very good in his second year, then something happened, so his playing wasn’t up to snuff.”
Trump continued: “The answer is, absolutely, I would. As far as kneeling, I would love to see him get another shot, but obviously, he has to be able to play well. If he can’t play well, I think it would be very unfair,”
Several prominent NFL players, including J.J. Watt, Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray, have either supported kneeling or said they planned on kneeling during the national anthem during the upcoming NFL season.
