Will Newly Hired L.A. Chargers Coach Jim Harbaugh Tap Colin Kaepernick As QB Coach? Speculation Swirls

Kaepernick has shown no inclination that he is open to a coaching position as he continues to look for a spot as a player.

Pro Football Focus’s Mike Florio seems to believe that following his departure from the University of Michigan to coach the Los Angeles Chargers, Jim Harbaugh will look to bring in Colin Kaepernick as a quarterback coach.

Previously, when there was speculation about Harbaugh potentially being a candidate for the Minnesota Vikings head coach job in 2022, it was rumored that he was looking to bring Kaepernick on his staff as a quarterback coach. However, Kaepernick has shown no inclination that he is open to a coaching position, most recently angling for an invitation to join the New York Jets practice squad after an Achilles injury to Aaron Rodgers and Zach Wilson’s struggles to be a consistently good quarterback.

Florio notes that Harbaugh also allowed Kaepernick to showcase his arm during halftime of the Wolverine’s spring game in 2022, so the speculation isn’t completely unwarranted.

Following Kaepernick’s collusion settlement with the NFL in 2019, the league has remained uninterested in giving the signal caller another chance, even as some teams struggled with less-than-satisfactory backup quarterback play in subsequent seasons. The Cleveland Browns, this season, elected to kick the tires on Joe Flacco, rotate in PJ Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robbins, a rookie, before injuries and subpar play sidelined them, and they were supplanted by Flacco, who had been on his couch.

Harbaugh’s politics have been the subject of much debate. A 2022 piece for Slate examines Harbaugh’s hodgepodge political views–his support of Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter protests coupled with his pro-life stance on abortion and his admiration of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. According to Slate, all of these stances from the old-school Catholic Harbaugh could explain his convictions around social justice. This also sheds light on why he believes the broader football world wronged Kaepernick for standing on his convictions.

Kaepernick made waves in 2016 while playing for the San Francisco 49ers when he began a principled protest by refusing to stand for the national anthem in a few pre-season games. Asked by NFL Media reporters why he was not standing for the anthem, Kaepernick did not mince words. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick explained. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

The team issued a statement affirming Kaepernick’s right to voice his opinion, “The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem.”

At the time, Kaepernick was well aware of the potential cost of standing up for social justice, telling NFL.com, “This is not something that I am going to run by anybody. I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed….If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”

Kaepernick later engaged in a dialogue with Nate Boyer, an ex-Green Beret, and the two arrived at a compromise, instead of refusing to stand, Boyer said that it was better in his opinion to kneel, as he recounted to NPR in 2018.

Kaepernick agreed, but the backlash took over. He wasn’t allowed to play and has not played a snap of football in the past eight years. Is coaching, playing, or neither in Kaepernick’s future? We’ll have to wait to see.