Brett Favre says Kaepernick deserves ‘hero status’ like former NFL star Pat Tillman

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre on Sunday said that former NFL quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick should be given “hero status” like former NFL star Pat Tillman, who was killed in action in Afghanistan after leaving football to join the Army following 9/11.

“I can only think of — right off the top of my head — Pat Tillman’s another guy who did something similar, and we regard him as a hero,” Favre said while speaking with TMZ Sports. “So I’d assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well.”

Tillman, who died at age 27 in 2004 after joining the Army Rangers in 2002, had turned down a $3.6 million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals in order to enlist.

Kaepernick, 32, who once guided the 49ers to the Super Bowl, began kneeling during the national anthem during the 2016 NFL season to protest racial injustice in the United States. He has not played in the league since the end of that season.

Numerous other players in a number of sports followed in the kneeling protests, eventually igniting a feud with President Trump, who called on NFL owners to fire any player “when somebody disrespects our flag.”

Last week, Trump said he would “love to see” Kaepernick “get another shot” to play in the NFL as protests have erupted nationwide over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“If he deserves it, he should,” Trump said of the prospect of Kaepernick playing again in the league in an interview with Sinclair. “If he has the playing ability. He started off great, and then he didn’t end up very great in terms of a player.”

Favre faced criticism on social media, with a number of tweets, primarily from conservative pundits, for comparing Kaepernick to Tillman.