Colin Kaepernick has not watched an NFL game in eight years.
But the onetime San Francisco 49ers quarterback says he still checks the stats of players.
Kaepernick has not appeared in an NFL game since 2016, and more recently has been the founder of a tech startup called Lumi.
He appeared at the WSJ Tech Live Conference in California this week along with Netflix honcho Ted Sarandos, composer Hans Zimmer and Hollywood star Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton asked the former football pro, “You typically haven’t watched the NFL much lately?” when Kapernick replied, “I haven’t watched a game in 8 years.”
But he added that he does watch college football and said of the NFL, “Oh, I still check everybody’s stats. It also informs who my agent reaches out to, but I still check the stats. I see what’s going on. I don’t ever turn a game on though, because I’m not gonna support in that way, but I need to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening with quarterbacks out there.”
Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said in a recent interview with USA Today that he contacted Kaepernick to explore the possibility of the former NFL star joining his coaching staff.
But Kaepernick, 36, then went on “The Tonight Show” and told host Jimmy Fallon, “It is not true.”
He added he only learned about the situation when he looked on social media.
He also said at the WSJ event: “I still wake up every morning and train. I’ve had to adjust my schedule a little bit, which saying this out loud sounds a little bizarre, but I get up at 3:30a.m. and I start my workday and then I go do my training… I still train every day, I still train the way I was when I was playing, making sure that I’m ready at any given moment.”
He’s said he doesn’t want to coach — but has reportedly expressed interest in playing for the US flag football team in the Olympics.
He told Fallon: “No interest in coaching… I need the adrenaline rush of playing and being in it, or I think I can have more impact in other places with my time.”
Harbaugh coached Kaepernick with the 49ers for four seasons.
The star infamously made headlines for kneeling in protest during the national anthem at games later in his career.
Kaepernick settled a grievance in 2019 against the NFL alleging that team owners were colluding to keep him out of the league.
