Roger Goodell said that Colin Kaepernick is always welcome to come discuss his issues with the NFL, but as far as getting back onto a team, it’s up to each individual club to make decisions on that.
The NFL commissioner joined CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday morning where he spoke about the former NFL quarterback and clarified some of the reports that have come out regarding his involvement in league discussions.
“We’ve always invited Colin to come over,” Goodell began.
“He’s welcome to come over and meet at any point and time. We had an open door on that,” he added. “There was some meetings set up with the player’s coalition, and they were invited by the player’s coalition. My understanding is they extended the invitations in that circumstance, but he’s always welcome to join that.”
NFL Commissioner Goodell addresses the anthem controversy and stadium attendance from CNBC.
Goodell was then asked if he thought Kaepernick should be playing in the league, which he quickly dodged and deflected to NFL owners.
“Each and every club’s got to make those decisions,” Goodell responded. “They make those decisions based on a lot of factors that are best for their football team. And when they do that, that’s what’s in the best interest.”
However Goodell did say that he doesn’t think Kapernick is being “blackballed,” due to his national anthem protest and said that the league is hoping to have all players standing for the anthem eventually.
“We respect our players. We’ve had an incredible amount of dialogue between the league, the owners and the players and what we’ve tried to do is create a new platform, which you’re seeing unfold actually over the last several weeks and going forward, that is going to give them an opportunity and for us to highlight their important work in their community to make their communities better,” Goodell said. “That’s what the players really wanted.”
“These are issues that we wanted to address in these communities and we want the NFL’s support,” Goodell said. “We hope to get, we want all our players standing.”
“I think, from our standpoint, we’re going to be able to address this effectively,” he added.