Colin Kaepernick is making his come back to the football field — as a playable character on the sport’s biggest video game, “Madden 21.”
Game developer EA Sports declared that an update was released on Tuesday that permits players to add Kaepernick to any NFL lineup for the first time since 2016.
“Colin Kaepernick is one of the top free agents in football and a starting-caliber quarterback,” EA Sports said in a statement on Tuesday. “We look forward to seeing Colin on Madden NFL teams everywhere.”
Kaepernick, 32, has been an unsigned, free agent player since he quit his agreement in 2016 — the last NFL season he played as a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. The athlete made headlines that year for first sitting, at that point kneeling during the national anthem in protest against police brutality and racial injustice.
Kaepernick and security Eric Reid, who was likewise on the 49ers at that point and participated in protest, settled their complaints with the NFL in February 2019 after the two players blamed the league for conspiring to bar them for taking a knee.
The previous 49ers player will be the top of the line, free operator quarterback accessible in “Madden 21” with a 81 generally evaluating, EA Sports said. EA Sports included that the rating was controlled by his earlier exhibition on the field, just as the designer’s information driven reproduction appraisals.
That positions him among the main 15 most elevated appraised quarterbacks in the game out of 111 quarterbacks, outperforming signal-guests like Derek Carr, Ryan Tannehill, and Cam Newton.
At the point when the organization previously drew closer Kaepernick, EA Sports said that their group worked with him to customize his symbol. Following a major play or score, Kaepernick can be seen raising his clench hand — a gesture to the Black Power salute in challenge racial unfairness.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN in June that he urged groups to sign Kaepernick.
“If he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it would take a team to make that decision,” Goodell said. “I welcome that, support a club making that decision and encourage them to do that.”
That very month, NFL players like New Orleans Saints security Malcolm Jenkins counseled Goodell’s announcement for neglecting to satisfactorily address how the NFL dealt with Kaepernick and his stooping.
“Until they apologize, specifically, to Colin Kaepernick, or assign him to a team, I don’t think that they will end up on the right side of history,” Jenkins said.
