Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Rams and Bengals was Michele Tafoya’s final game as a sideline reporter with NBC, as she left the network to take part in various non-sports ventures.
On Monday, Tafoya joined SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Show, where she addressed, among other topics, comments she had made about former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick on The View in November.
Last fall, Tafoya was asked about whether she believed Kaepernick was “blackballed” by NFL owners.
“If they believed he could win them a Super Bowl he would be on a team right now,” she said then. ”I promise you that, I promise you that. ... A lot of teams have tried him out, and he didn't lose everything. In fact, I would say he’s gained a whole lot. He is now a leader of a movement, he’s got a Netflix series, he’s got Nike endorsements.”
“I think all of us can agree there’s a lot to this story we still don’t know,” she added.
Tafoya elaborated on her comments on Monday, with Kelly.
“You can’t have everything your way in this life. You work your way around and through the obstacles. If he really, really wanted ... the one thing he wanted, Megyn, in this life was to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, he’d be one right now, given that he had the talent. But he made some business decisions, and I think he knew what he was risking, and I think that there are legitimate complaints about race in the NFL and everywhere else in America, but that's not why Colin Kaepernick is not in the NFL.”
In March 2019, Kaepernick and safety Eric Reid, who last played with the Panthers and had once been a teammate of Kaepernick’s, reportedly received less than $10 million in a financial settlement with the NFL.
Kaepernick had first filed a grievance against the NFL in October 2017, claiming the NFL tried to keep him from playing after he chose to peacefully protest police brutality and racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.
Kaepernick, who led San Francisco to Super Bowl XLVII, has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he started 11 games and completed 59.2% of his passes with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions for the 49ers.
In November 2019, he did undergo a workout in the Atlanta area, though he received no offers following the event.
Following her departure from NBC Sports, Tafoya said she will cochair the political campaign for businessman and Army veteran Kendall Qualls, who announced in January he is running as a Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota. It is unclear in what capacity Tafoya will serve. She will also appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February.
