Jim Harbaugh offered Colin Kaepernick spot on Chargers coaching staff, but QB has other plans

After leading Michigan to a national championship. Jim Harbaugh accepted a head coach position with the Los Angeles Chargers this offseason. With Harbaugh's return to the NFL, the door appears to have opened for Colin Kaepernick to make a return to the NFL as well, although it may not be in the role that he imagined.

During an interview after a training camp practice last week, Harbaugh told Jared Bell of USA Today that he offered Kaepernick an opportunity to join him in Los Angeles as a member of the Chargers coaching staff.

“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.”

The conversation with Kaepernick reportedly took place shortly after Harbaugh joined the Chargers, but the head coach did not hear back from his former quarterback about the opportunity.

“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.”

The Chargers coaching staff already includes several of Harbaugh's former players from the San Francisco 49ers, including NaVorro Bowman, Jonathan Goodwin and Will Tukuafu. Kaepernick, however, doesn't seem too interested in the opportunity.

Colin Kaepernick doesn't seem interested in Jim Harbaugh's coaching offer

Kaepernick recently told Sky Sports that he still has aspirations of returning to the NFL as a quarterback.

“We’re still training, still pushing,” Kaepernick said. “So, hopefully. We’ve just got to get one of these team owners to open up.”

Kaepernick was the first player to protest police brutality and racial inequality by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. The quarterback claimed to be blackballed by the league and sued the NFL for collusion. He ultimately agreed to an undisclosed settlement with the league in 2019.

The quarterback has claimed he wanted to return to the league, others have suggested that his attempts to return were not genuine or in his best interest. Regardless, it's hard to take his claims seriously at this point. Kaepernick has been out of the league for seven years, and at 36 years old, he likely has little to offer on the field.

For a very short period of time, Harbaugh and Kaepernick created magic together.

Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, shortly before the Niners selected Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Harbaugh instantaneously transformed the 49ers, who had gone nearly a decade without posting a winning record. As the backup quarterback, Kaepernick got to witness starting quarterback Alex Smith lead San Francisco to a 13-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

When an injury opened the door for Kaepernick to seize the starting role in the following season, he — quite literally — ran with it. Fueled by a juggernaut defense and Kaepernick's explosive running ability, the Niners made it to Super Bowl XLVII before losing to the Baltimore Ravens.

Kaepernick led the Niners to a 12-4 record in 2013, but it would be his last successful season in the NFL. The magic fizzled out for both Harbaugh and Kaepernick during the 2014 season. Harbaugh left the NFL to become Michigan's head coach, and Kaepernick won just three of his next 19 starts before falling out of the NFL completely.