Colin Kaepernick still wants to play in the NFL, but his former coach Jim Harbaugh has a different career path in mind for the quarterback.
In an interview with USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell, Harbaugh revealed that he spoke with Kaepernick about joining his coaching staff with the Los Angeles Chargers after he took the job back in January.
“If that was ever the path he was to take, I think that would be tremendous,” Harbaugh told Bell . “He’d be a tremendous coach, if that’s the path he chose.”
So far, it doesn’t look like Kaepernick is interested in Harbaugh’s offer. The longtime coach said he has not spoken with his former pupil about the matter in a while.
“Yeah, we talked a little bit about it,” Harbaugh said. “He’s considering it. He was out of the country. He said he was going to get back to me. We haven’t reconnected since then. That was early, early in the year.”
Harbaugh also referred to Kaepernick, who played for him in San Francisco from 2011-14, as “one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached” and a “hero.”
Out of the NFL since the end of the 2016 season, when he famously protested during the national anthem before games, Kaepernick is still training.
The 36-year-old recently told Sky Sports he believes he can not just be an NFL quarterback again, but a championship-caliber one.
“We’ve just got to get one of these team owners to open up,” Kaepernick said . “It’s something I’ve trained my whole life for, so to be able to step back on the field, I think that would be a major moment, a major accomplishment for me. I think I could bring a lot to a team and help them win a championship.”
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