Brett Favre Compares Colin Kaepernick to Pat Tillman, Will Be Regarded as 'Hero'

Legendary quarterback Brett Favre says QB Colin Kaepernick sacrificing his NFL career to fight for racial equality will lead to him being remembered as a hero, comparing him to the late Pat Tillman.

"It's not easy for a guy his age—black or white, Hispanic, whatever—to stop something that you've always dreamed of doing and put it on hold, maybe forever, for something that you believe in," Favre told TMZ Sports.

"...I can only think of right off the top of my head, Pat Tillman is another guy that did something similar. And we regard him as a hero, so I'd assume that hero status will be stamped with Kaepernick as well."

Tillman retired from the NFL after the 2001 season at age 25 to enlist in the United States Army after the Sept. 11 attacks. He died via friendly fire April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan.

Kaepernick's three-year NFL hiatus has not been voluntary. He settled a collusion lawsuit against the NFL in 2019 that claimed the league's owners sought to bar him from the NFL over his peaceful protests during the national anthem.

Kaepernick, now 32, began kneeling during the anthem in 2016 in protest of police brutality and discrimination against black people. His form of protest was controversial at the time, but public sentiment has shifted in his favor in recent years, particularly since the death of George Floyd.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized for the league's past attempts to quell peaceful protests in a video earlier this month. Goodell also said he hopes a team signs Kaepernick.

"Well, listen, if he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it's going to take a team to make that decision," Goodell said on ESPN's The Return of Sports special. "But I welcome that, support a club making that decision, and encourage them to do that."

Kaepernick, who held a private workout for teams in November, has maintained he is ready to resume his NFL career.