Colin Kaepernick, NFL players request meeting with league. Here's what they want.

National Football League players are trying to set up a formal meeting with league officials to talk about national anthem protests and the reasons behind them, according to ESPN. If the league agrees to the meeting, former quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be there.

What’s the purpose of the meeting?

The players want to address two issues:

• The social justice/civil rights issues that they are protesting about. Kaepernick originally began protesting during the anthem to bring attention to racial injustice and police brutality against minorities.
• Why Kaepernick isn’t in the league. There are some who believe Kaepernick has been blackballed for his protests, and cite the fact that a number of allegedly inferior quarterbacks have been signed this season because of injuries.

A formal mediation could be overseen by a retired judge or someone else who is legally qualified. However, any resolution reached during the meeting is not necessarily binding.

Kaepernick has agreed to attend the meeting "as a sign of respect to the players' efforts and beliefs," according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The former 49ers quarterback has filed a collusion grievance against the league.

Has the NFL responded?

Not yet. The proposed date of the meeting is sometime during the week of Nov. 13.

Players, league officials and team owners met last month, but those meetings were informal and no resolutions were reached.

Is Kaepernick any closer to being signed?

Possibly. Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien, whose team lost its starting quarterback to season-ending injury, said the Texans have explored the possibility of signing Kaepernick.

“Colin Kaepernick’s a good football player, hasn’t played football in a while,” O’Brien said. “But these things are discussed daily and they’ll continue to be discussed.”

Kaepernick playing for Houston would make sense from a football standpoint, but it would be an interesting match in light of the controversy following Texans owner Bob McNair’s controversial “inmates running the prison” comment.

After McNair’s remark became public, some Texans players boycotted a practice, one (who has since been traded) was extremely critical in the media, and many of them kneeled during the anthem before the next game.