Tom Brady Says Kaepernick Is 'Certainly Qualified' to Play

In what Deadspin notes was part of a PR tour for his new self-help book, Tom Brady sat down with Norah O'Donnell Sunday on CBS This Morning. But O'Donnell didn't just stick to publishing topics in her conversation with the Patriots quarterback, instead touching on another hot button in the football world. "Colin Kaepernick: Do you think he can play again in the NFL?" O'Donnell asked Brady, per CBS Sports, referencing the now-free agent who many say is being blacklisted by the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. "I sure hope so," Brady replied. "I've always watched him and admired him, the way that he's played, he was a great young quarterback. He came to our stadium and beat us and took his team to the Super Bowl [in 2013, for the 2012 season]."

Per the New York Daily News, Brady had addressed Kaepernick Monday on a Boston radio station, noting his attention is elsewhere at this point in the season, not on Kaepernick nor the national anthem protests. He also said he doesn't know the ex-49er "very well," adding, "I've never really had a conversation with him." Deadspin notes Brady tiptoed around whether or not Kaepernick would ever get a chance to play again for the NFL, but "it's nice to see the acknowledgment that Kaepernick deserves one." "He accomplished a lot in the pros as a player," Brady told O'Donnell. "And he's certainly qualified, and I hope he gets a shot." Meanwhile, Kaepernick won the NFL Players Association's Community MVP award this week for recent charitable donations, which TMZ notes puts him in the running for the Byron Whizzer White Award, the "highest honor that the NFLPA can bestow upon a player." (More Tom Brady stories.)