Colin Kaepernick says NFL is ‘actively blackballing me’ 10 years after kneeling controversy

NEW YORK — Colin Kaepernick still watches football. Just not the NFL. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback told NBC News in an interview that he prefers to watch the college game instead. The 38-year-old Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, hasn’t played since the 2016 season finale, an exile that began not long after he started taking a knee during the national anthem to highlight social injustices. Colin Kaepernick speaks after receiving the ACLU Ralph Ellison Award for Defenders of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Arts, Business, Science, and Sports at the ACLU’s 2026 Biennial Leadership Conference on Friday, July 24, 2026, in Washington. AP Photo/Kevin Wolf “I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two