Stephen A. Smith Says No Way Colin Kaepernick Returns to NFL — But ‘He Should’ve Been in the League Years Ago!’

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was back in the headlines this weekend after he posted a workout video and expressed his desire to return to the NFL.

The footage prompted ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith to double down on his argument that Kaepernick has been “blackballed” by the league.

“It’s been time for a team to sign Kaepernick, years, it ain’t going to happen,” Smith said on Tuesday’s edition of First Take. “This is what happened: Colin Kaepernick was blackballed, unfairly I might add.”

But while Smith blamed the league for the fact that the former pro bowler is no longer in the NFL, he placed some measure of the blame on Kaepernick himself — for skipping an NFL-sanctioned workout back in 2019.

“When [Kaepernick] didn’t show up for that workout in Atlanta, organized by the National Football League, you were done period,” Smith exclaimed.

The ESPN personality then cited Kaepernick’s inability to work in tandem with the league and their facilities as the tipping point in their relationship.

“You decided you were not going to show up and as a result conducted your own workout at a high school field with receivers we didn’t know,” Smith said.

A slew of players and personalities outside the NFL have come out in support of Kaepernick for his kneeling protests during the national anthem. But according to Smith, none of that mattered.

“The NFL didn’t care, they sat up there and said ‘we don’t want to touch this man’,” Smith explained. “The teams did not want to touch him for a workout because they were scared, if they didn’t want him, then he could sit up there and accuse them of racism.”

Kaepernick last played in the NFL back in 2016, finishing the season with a modest 2,241 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. He has yet to find a new home since.

Watch above via ESPN.