Colin Kapernick's role as an honorary captain for Michigan's spring game will include a halftime throwing exhibition with draft-eligible players, according to the league's transaction wire. NFL club personnel who will be in attendance are permitted to watch the event, which will take place this Saturday at Michigan Stadium.
Kaepernick, who has not played in the NFL since 2016, is open to accepting a backup role in the NFL if that is what is required to get back into the league, according to CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson.
Kaepernick played for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh during Harbaugh's four seasons as the 49ers head coach, has not played in the NFL since 2016. In 12 games that season, Kaepernick threw 16 touchdowns against just four interceptions while rushing for 468 yards and two touchdowns (with a 6.8 yards per carry) for a 2-14 team.
In 2012, Kaepernick led the 49ers to a 12-4 regular season record as well as playoff victories over the Packers and Falcons in the NFC playoffs. He gained 368 total yards while scoring two touchdowns in the 49ers' three-point loss to the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII. Kaepernick helped lead the 49ers back to the NFC Championship Game in 2013 before the team stumbled to an 8-8 mark in 2014, Harbaugh's final season in San Francisco. An injury wiped out most of the 2015 season for Kaepernick, who made 64 total starts during his six seasons with the 49ers.
Kaepernick has yet to find another NFL opportunity after he became a free agent following the 2016 season. In the fall of 2017, he filed a grievance against the NFL while accusing the league owners of collusion to keep him out of the league. Kaepernick's decision to kneel during the national anthem -- an attempt by Kaepernick to raise awareness on police brutality towards minorities -- became a major headline that was copied by many players and teams during the 2016 and '17 seasons. Kaepernick withdrew his case after he reached a confidential settlement with the league in February of 2019.
Five teams have recently expressed interest Kaepernick, according to a trainer who has been working with the 34-year-old quarterback. One of those teams is apparently not the Seahawks, who worked out Kaepernick in 2017. While Pete Carroll recently said that his conversations with Kaepernick "have not progressed since the early connection that we made," Seattle's coach has been keeping an eye on his former AFC West rival.
"I've watched a bunch of his workouts … to kind of keep me up with what's going on," Carroll said, via USA Today. "He's really working hard. He's all over the country, traveling around, getting his workouts in. So he's still competing for it."