With the George Floyd race riots lighting up Minneapolis in a blaze of fire, retribution and racial tensions are diving a proud City. With the NFL coming back in Autumn, the former NFL executive Joe Lockhart has used a column in CNN to argue that Colin Kaepernick should come back to American Football and in particular the Minnesota Vikings. 

It’s been almost four years since Colin Kaepernick threw a pass in the NFL, and since he left the San Francisco 49ers in the fallout from him taking the knee in protest at the powers that be. The national anthem, to many, hasn’t sounded the same. Kaepernick, however, hasn’t played since, despite showing off exactly how physically fit he still is with a range of workout videos.

America is a country that stands divided on the race riots, and on the side of George Floyd, many people have looked to Kaepernick for leadership. He hasn’t let them down, funding a legal defense team to help protestors know their rights and even setting up a Twitter page dedicated to coordinating efforts on their behalf.

What Lockhart argues football fans could really do with is Kaepernick back in his quarterback role on the field, in some ways to unite Minnesota and give the various factions a leading light to guide them through what are clearly very difficult times.