Seahawks coach leaves door open on Kaepernick: 'There may be a place for him

The saga of Colin Kaepernick’s unemployment continued this week, with Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll opting to keep the door open on signing the controversial quarterback, Sports Illustrated reported.

What happened?

Two weeks ago, reports surfaced that the Seattle Seahawks had postponed a scheduled workout with the former 49ers quarterback over a lack of clarity about his future plans related to national anthem protests and his grievance against the NFL.

At the time, it was reported that the Seahawks might reschedule the workout when they understood Kaepernicks’ future intentions better.

This week, Carroll said there is still a chance his team might pick up Kaepernick for a backup role, even though they have already signed two other backup quarterbacks this offseason.

“We’re still battling on all fronts, on all guys,” Carroll said. “We’re still looking at guys and evaluating. There are still free agents we’re looking at and in that the process just continues. We’ve gone through the information gathering and we have a pretty good feel for where we are. It’s ongoing. We’re not done with that decision at all.

“I think we’ve been working at this thing for some time now,” Carroll continued. “I don’t think that was really as telling as it came across. We’re really aware of [Kaepernick] and he’s a fine football player and there may be a place for him. We don’t know that yet.”

Hypotheticals and off-field obstacles

Less than a week after Kaepernick’s postponed Seahawks workout, the president of Adidas’ North American division said the apparel brand would like to sign Kaepernick if he got on an NFL roster.

Kaepernick’s potential employment in the NFL is complicated not only by his previous protests during the national anthem, but an ongoing grievance he has filed against the league claiming that owners have colluded to blackball him.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is among the people who have been deposed in the grievance.

Kaepernick, 30, has not played since the 2016 season.