Just one day after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed his openness to Colin Kaepernick making a return, league executive Troy Vincent said Tuesday that the NFL is “working” to help the former San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback “land a spot.”
Vincent said on "The Adam Schefter Podcast" that Kapernick’s return ultimately comes down to which team is willing to sign him but that the executive office has long believed that he’s good enough to play in the NFL.
BILLS’ COLE BEASLEY SPEAKS OUT FOLLOWING GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH: ‘I AM EMBARRASSED’
"It's a club decision but this young man is talented enough to play in the National Football League,” he said. “I believed that back in 2016 -- whenever it was, 2016 or 2017 -- and I still believe that today. And he just hasn't had the opportunity to display his talents once again, whether it was in camp or preseason. That's always been my position -- and many of my colleagues' positions, frankly, (and) the commissioner's office's position.
"But we can't hire," he continued. "And again, my comments that I've just made, they've been documented on the record, in front of a judge, about the work and the efforts that many of us, we're working on behalf of looking for Colin to land a spot."
BEARS’ JORDAN LUCAS, ONCE ‘SCARED’ TO KNEEL AS A ROOKIE, VOWS TO DO SO ‘110 PERCENT’ THIS SEASON
Vincent’s remarks echoed those of Goodell, who told ESPN that he would “welcome” any team’s decision to sign Kaepernick.
"Well, listen, if he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it's gonna take a team to make that decision," he said. "But I welcome that, support a club making that decision, and encourage them to do that."
CLICK HERE TO GET MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON foxnews.1eye.us
Calls for Kaepernick to make a return came weeks after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Kaepernick hasn’t played an NFL game since the 2016 season, when he started kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice and police brutality.