National Football League

Colin Kaepernick not joining Chargers coaching staff, says HC Jim Harbaugh

Updated Aug. 16, 2024 10:43 a.m. ET

A few days after Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh alluded to potentially finding former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick a spot on his coaching staff for the 2024 season, those comments are being walked back.

"I love Colin, and always will … but he’s not going to be on the coaching staff … [or] be playing on the roster either," Harbaugh said after Thursday’s practice.

Kaepernick hasn't played in the NFL since 2016 but has been vocal about wanting to return to the game. His former coach, Harbaugh, was seemingly enthusiastic about the 36-year-old Kaepernick returning to the game as a coach and that they'd "talked a little bit about it" earlier this year, shortly after Harbaugh took the Chargers job.

Harbaugh also expressed that he feels Kaepernick would be a "tremendous coach."

What are the expectations for the Chargers?

The San Francisco 49ers selected Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft, which was Harbaugh's first year as their head coach. Kaepernick didn't make a start until the middle of the 2012 season, when veteran starter Alex Smith got a concussion and the second-year quarterback took the chance to start and ran away with it.

Kaepernick remained the starter and finished the regular season (13 appearances, seven starts) throwing for 1,814 yards and 10 touchdowns, while posting a 98.3 passer rating and rushing for 415 yards and five touchdowns. San Francisco went on to reach Super Bowl XLVII before losing to the Baltimore Ravens and head coach John Harbaugh, Jim's brother.

Barring injury — and a brief benching in favor of Blaine Gabbert to begin 2016 — Kaepernick was San Francisco's primary quarterback for the better part of the next four years. Prior to the 2016 regular season, Kaepernick publicly said that he was protesting the national anthem to shine light on racial inequality in America. He opted out of his contract for the 2017 NFL season and hasn't been signed to an NFL roster since.

Harbaugh and the 49ers parted ways after the 2014 season, and he then became the new head coach of his alma mater, Michigan. Kaepernick served as an honorary captain for Michigan's 2022 spring game.

Following nine seasons in Ann Arbor and winning a national title last season, Harbaugh was hired to be the Chargers' new head coach in January.

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