Jim Harbaugh Says Colin Kaepernick Would Make 'Tremendous' Coach on Chargers' Staff

Patrick Andres | Aug 15, 2024

Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh looks on as Colin Kaepernick passes during halftime at the 2022 Michigan spring game. / Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

For over a decade now, the fates of coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Colin Kaepernick have been intertwined: Harbaugh made his bones as an NFL coach in part due to Kaepernick's dynamism, while Kaepernick has been championed in the years since his NFL exit by Harbaugh.

That would make Harbaugh's Los Angeles Chargers a potential destination if Kaepernick wants to coach in the next phase of his career—something Harbaugh appears to want, he told Jarrett Bell of USA Today in an interview published Wednesday morning.

"If that was ever the path he was to take, I think that would be tremendous," Harbaugh said. "He’d be a tremendous coach, if that’s the path he chose."

Kaepernick, 36, has not played in the NFL since 2016 with the San Francisco 49ers—the year he began kneeling during the American national anthem to protest racism, an action that made headlines around the world.

The Nevada product says he still wants to play, but Harbaugh said that desire has not stopped the two men from discussing a non-playing role for Kaepernick in the future.

“Yeah, we talked a little bit about it,” Harbaugh said. “He’s considering it. He was out of the country. He said he was going to get back to me. We haven’t reconnected since then. That was early, early in the year.”