NFL teams considered Colin Kaepernick as starting quarterback material: report

Civil rights leader and former professional football player Colin Kaepernick was blackballed by National Football League owners after kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, NBC News reported Monday.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reports that Kaepernick's collusion lawsuit against the league has already uncovered evidence.

"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, internal franchise documents generated as part of the free-agency evaluation process and testimony from witnesses harvested via depositions in the collusion litigation has established that teams viewed Kaepernick as being good enough not simply to be employed by an NFL team, but to be a starting quarterback for an NFL team," Florio reported.

In April, secret recordings revealed NFL owners feared President Donald Trump would attack them for employing Kaepernick.

The commander-in-chief branded Kaepernick a "son of a b*tch" in a statement that drew a sharp rebuke from the athlete's mother.

Pro Football Talk's Florio explained what the collusion case "will conclusively prove."

"Multiple teams believed that Colin Kaepernick was still good enough to play after becoming a free agent more than a year ago. Which means that, at least as to Kaepernick, the notion that teams make decisions based only on trying to win football games doesn’t hold water," Florio concluded.

As evidence mounts that the NFL blackballed the quarterback, Kaepernick has remained focused on his civil rights leadership, for which he has drawn widespread praise.

In December, Beyoncé awarded Kaepernick with Sports Illustrated‘s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award for embodying the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy and has used sports as a platform for changing the world.

Last month, Kaepernick was awarded Amnesty International's top honor, the Ambassador of Conscience Award.

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