Jim Harbaugh Loves Colin Kaepernick But Wisely Isn't Hiring Him As Chargers Coach This Season

The Los Angeles Chargers have decided not to take that step into an abyss of continual distraction and controversy by hiring Colin Kaepernick.

Unforced error averted.

Harbaugh: Kaepernick Not Coming

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said Thursday the former NFL quarterback who has been out of the league since 2016 after he gave rise to the (infamous) kneeling-for-the-national anthem movement around sports, will not be coaching or playing for the Chargers in 2024.

"I love Colin, and always will, and that gets conflated into he might play here or might coach here," Harbaugh told reporters. "I love Colin, but he’s not going to be on the coaching staff. It’s set for this year. 

"And he’s not going to be playing on the roster, either," Harbaugh added.

The reason Harbaugh had to spell that out is because he himself opened the door to the possibility when he told USA Today he'd contacted Kaepernick, a former player of his when he was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, about coaching the Chargers.

"He’s considering it," Harbaugh said of Kaepernick.

Kaepernick Remains Future Possibility

On Thursday, Harbaugh made it seem as if the media was running with a fanciful story about Kaepernick coaching the Chargers that had no merit – even though he birthed the story with his earlier revelation.

And even in putting to bed the possibility of Kaepernick joining the Chargers this year, Harbaugh continues to leave that door open for a different outcome sometime in the future. Because he really, really likes Kaepernick in that role.

"I have thought that for a long time," Harbaugh said. "Just the respect that I have for the football mind he has and the football man that he is. 

"[Late Raiders owner] Al Davis saw something in me that made him think I would be a good coach, and I see those same qualities in Colin. If it is something he chooses."

So this sounds like it's going to be an annual thing with Harbaugh and the Chargers. Every offseason he's going to be asked if he's changed his mind about Kaepernick joining the team.

Should Colin Kaepernick play in the NFL? (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Why Kaepernick Is Bad Idea

And that, in part, explains why hiring Kaepernick – at least this year – would have been a bad idea.

Harbaugh is in his first year with the Chargers. He's changing the roster, the coaching staff, the schemes, the play-style, and the culture. He is ultimately trying to change the results of games.

It is a gargantuan enough task, particularly for an AFC West team that plays in the same division with America's Team – the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

So, atop that difficult assignment, Harbaugh would be comfortable adding a coach who's been highly polarizing and controversial?

Kaepernick would immediately become a national story. A distraction on a nuclear explosion scale.

It would be hard work for a stable, established organization to manage this. The Chargers, who haven't played a game under Harbaugh, are not stable or established yet.

SANTA CLARA, CA - OCTOBER 23:  Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneels for the National Anthem before their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium on October 23, 2016 in Santa Clara, California.  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Question For Colin Kaepernick

The Chargers, attending to issues about Justin Herbert's health and Quentin Johnston's drops, would be juggling other questions having zero to do with football.

Will Kaepernick be kneeling during the national anthem every game?

Will he be wearing police as pigs socks to practice?

Or a Fidel Castro T-shirt to press conferences?

Will he continue making disparaging remarks about the American flag?

Does Kaepernick still believe in the discredited BLM organization?

Projections of Betsy Ross Flag on outside of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Chargers May Revisit Issue Another Time

And does he still hate the so-called Betsy Ross flag because he believes it's racist?

Would Kaepernick still believe he's been blackballed from the NFL even as he's coaching in the NFL?

That's a lot of stuff that would come up that has little to do with coaching football and Harbaugh and the Chargers would be taking it all aboard.

But Harbaugh, apparently a very loyal person, may still be willing to accept all that perceived or actual baggage in the future. 

Kaepernick, after all, was the starting quarterback in Super Bowl XLVII for Harbaugh's 49ers against Baltimore. 

So check back next year. The issue has been put to bed for this season, but Harbaugh doesn't sound like this is a forever decision.