Colin Kaepernick’s Shout-Out Gets Aid To Somalia, But Is His NFL Career Over?


Colin Kaepernick gave a shout-out on social media to Turkish Airlines a few days ago, begging them to deliver food and water to Somalia. According to TMZ, Colin teamed up with Ben Stiller‘s Stiller Foundation to help gather and distribute donated funds appropriately. Kaepernick wanted to ensure that an airline would donate their resources to help cut down the costs of distributing the items.

Kaepernick just confirmed that the Turkish Airlines finally agreed to help with Colin’s humanitarian project which is great news for the people of Somalia.

Unfortunately for Colin, however, his altruism more than likely isn’t going to help his quest to find a new NFL team.

According to ESPN, Colin Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers at the beginning of NFL free agency. Kaepernick started 11 games in 2016 and his stats actually improved over the previous couple of years, but Colin has never gotten back to the level he was when he led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in the 2012-2013 season.

Colin Kaepernick, who was once a Super Bowl caliber quarterback, has had no interest from NFL teams in free agency. [Image by Chris Graythen/Getty Images]

But the diminished skill isn’t the only obstacle in Kaepernick’s way. In the beginning of the 2016 NFL, Colin began a personal protest that evolved into one of the most heated debates in NFL history. Kaepernick chose to sit and then kneel during the National Anthem, stating he was against the song’s racist lyrics. Colin stated he would continue to kneel until he felt areas of social injustice were being addressed.

Kaepernick’s protest was met with mixed response. Some fellow football players joined Colin by kneeling and even athletes in other sports such as USWNT player Megan Rapinoe joined in prior to their own games. Other athletes mocked Colin for not recognizing his own privilege as a wealthy professional athlete.

Several fans of the NFL threatened to boycott games because of the Kaepernick protest and ratings dropped. While the 49ers vowed support for Colin and Kaepernick jerseys were flying off the shelves, physical attendance at their home games dwindled with plenty of empty seats.

When Kaepernick entered free agency, questions arose as to whether or not any teams would want to deal with the the baggage associated with the young quarterback. Ironically, Colin’s agent made an announcement that should he get the opportunity to play for another NFL team, Kaepernick would be standing for the Star-Spangled Banner this season. Though insisting his change in his stance was due to him seeing improvements in social injustice, many were skeptical of Kaepernick’s motives labeling him a sell-out.

Colin Kaepernick’s humanitarian efforts for Somalia may be marred by his controversial anthem kneeling protest. [Image by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images]

And anyone who pays attention to Kaepernick’s social media accounts has good reason to doubt his intentions. Colin’s Twitter feed is a plethora of retweets on racism and social despair.

According to the NFL website, however, analysts believe the lack of interest in Colin Kaepernick has less to do with his polarizing beliefs and more to do with his skills or lack thereof. Kaepernick completed 196 of 331 passes for more than 2,000 yards and only four interceptions but he wasn’t the mobile and accurate quarterback from his prime 2012 season.

As NFL Network’s Charley Casserly stated, “Just watching the tape on him (Kaepernick) through the years — now there were games this year (in which) he was better than what I’m going to describe — but for the most part, the body of tape does not show a drop back quarterback. It shows a quarterback that’s indecisive in his reads and is inaccurate, and he’s not quite the runner he was when he first came into the league. Most quarterbacks aren’t the same runner after they’ve been hit for a while and they slow down a little bit.”

Considering no NFL teams have shown interest so far and with Colin Kaepernick’s success in getting Somalian relief aid from Turkish Airlines, perhaps he has found a new calling outside of playing football.

[Featured Image by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images]

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