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Alex Smith on Colin Kaepernick's continued unemployment: 'Crazy at this point'

Colin Kaepernick has no job, and regardless of whether it’s because of his football skills or his political leanings, the end result is the same: a guy who started 11 games last year and is just three years from almost winning the Super Bowl is out of work.

Chances are you already know how you feel about Kaepernick and his decision to kneel during the national anthem, and you’ve probably known for a year or so. With no new movement in Kaepernick’s employment status, and with Kaepernick himself communicating only via retweet, the story advances only when people in the know air their own takes.

One such person: Alex Smith, the guy whose job Kaepernick took over in San Francisco a few years back when Smith went down with a concussion. Kaepernick nearly led the team to a Super Bowl victory, and with Smith at the helm, the 49ers might have won. Still, then-coach Jim Harbaugh opted to stick with Kaepernick.

Enough time has passed that Smith, now with Kansas City, says he can look back on the era with some detachment. When asked about Kaepernick’s political stance, Smith at first treaded water: “It’s hard for me to comment on it,” he said, according to the Kansas City Star. “I don’t know. Lot going on in that landscape right now. Certainly when I was there, he was playing at a really, really high level, right? Had a lot in front of him as far as a career goes. He was playing really good football.”

Smith pivoted from there to Kaepernick’s employment status. “Crazy to think he’s not playing,” he said. “Yeah, that’s a crazy thing. As good as he was playing. Young, strong, I felt like he had a long career ahead of him. Crazy that at this point he’s out of a job.”

So count another in the “maybe it’s not a football-skills thing” column. And the Kaepernick story rolls on.

Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick. (Getty)
Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick. (Getty)

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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