Roger Goodell: NFL should have ‘listened earlier’ to Colin Kaepernick

League’s commissioner says ‘the misrepresentation’ of players who protested ‘really gnaws at him’

Roger Goodell says the NFL should have listened earlier to Colin Kaepernick (AP)

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated that he wishes the league had “listened earlier” when Colin Kaepernick protested the US national anthem in 2016.

Kaepernick has not played since he took a knee ahead of a series of games to protest police violence and other social injustices.

Speaking on Emmanuel Acho’s Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, Goodell was asked what he would say to Kaepernick now given the opportunity to apologise.

“Well the first thing I’d say is I wish we had listened earlier, Kap, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to,” Goodell said. “We had invited him in several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue. I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did.”

Kaepernick, and former teammate Eric Reid, eventually settled their collusion grievances cases against the NFL after accusing the league’s team owners of conspiring to prevent them from playing again.

“It is not about the flag,” Goodell continued. “These are not people who are unpatriotic. They’re not disloyal. They’re not against our military. In fact, many of those guys were in the military and they’re a military family.

“What they were trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. That misrepresentation of who they were and what they were doing was the thing that really gnawed at me.”