49ers' Kyle Shanahan: People misunderstand Colin Kaepernick protests

Following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man who died while being apprehended by Minneapolis police on May 25, multiple individuals within the NFL community have spoken about former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. 

Kaepernick made headlines when he kneeled during renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" to protest police violence and social injustices throughout the 2016 season. The Niners released Kaepernick the subsequent offseason, and he has remained a free agent through early June 2020. 

As protests over Floyd's unnecessary death spread throughout the United States and around the world, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said "we owe a tremendous amount" to Kaepernick when touching upon his silent and peaceful demonstrations. 

While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Chicago Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks suggested the league unofficially blackballed Kaepernick.

As ESPN's Nick Wagoner wrote, current Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan, who was offensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons during Kaepernick's last active season, spoke with reporters on Thursday:

"I think the biggest thing that is so hard with the Colin thing is people misunderstanding what he was doing. And I think that's why the reactions have been hard the last couple of days over things that people are still confused [about]. Regardless of whether you agree with how he did it or not, that doesn't matter. What Colin was protesting was something that should be respected by all humans. That did take a lot of courage. That is something that is 1,000 percent wrong and what he was trying to fix and bring light to. And gosh it was hard to bring light to the whole country because people didn't want to totally hear it, and it got diluted with so much different stuff."

Shanahan continued: 

"It's three years later, and there's still some people not understanding what his message was, and regardless, that's too many people not understanding the message that everyone has been giving for a long time. And Colin did it the strongest out of anyone. And people should respect him a ton for that and admire that."

Shanahan added he'd support players protesting during the national anthem moving forward. 

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees drew scorn and outrage after he spoke out against national anthem protests earlier this week. Brees apologized for his comments on Thursday.