Will Colin Kaepernick make an NFL return? 

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback in a new interview with I Am Athlete said he “absolutely” wants to play football again, saying he believes he’ll “find a way on that field.”

Kaepernick famously kneeled during the national anthem before games in 2016 to protest racial injustice. He hasn’t played since leaving at the end of that season, and he accused the NFL of colluding to blacklist him.  

Kaepernick told I Am Athlete has continued training for the past five years to “make sure I’m ready” for a return, and he said he would be willing to come back as a backup quarterback. 

“I know I have to find my way back in,” he said. “So yeah, if I have to come in as a backup, that’s fine. But that’s not where I’m staying, and when I prove that I’m a starter, I want to be able to step on the field as such. I just need the opportunity to walk through the door.” 

He also said he has “unfinished business” in the NFL, noting he’s always dreamed of winning a Super Bowl. “My mentality isn’t just to go out and be like, ‘Oh, I want to compete,'” Kaepernick said. “No, I want to win a championship.” But Kaepernick says “no team has brought me in for an opportunity,” though he had a meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017. 

When asked what message he’d send to general managers, Kaepernick said, “Let me come in and compete and show you what I can do.” He argued signing him wouldn’t create distractions and that “everything I’ve said” is “in alignment” with what the NFL is “saying publicly.” 

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on Kaepernick’s desire to get back into the NFL, though the report suggested his return “is reasonably a longshot.”