Colin Kaepernick said earlier this offseason he won’t continue to kneel during the national anthem during the 2017 season. Of course, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback still needs to find an NFL job for that to matter.

Two of Kaepernick’s teammates who joined him in his protest won’t be kneeling anymore either. Safety Eric Reid told 49ers media he and linebacker Eli Harold won’t kneel for the anthem, as they did last year.

Reid said they accomplished their goal with the protest.

Eli Harold (L), Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid (R) have said they won’t kneel for the national anthem this year. (AP) More

“When we started doing that, our goal was to open up the floor to conversation. I believe we’ve achieved that goal,” Reid said, according to Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. “So now we just want to move forward and just partner with people that want to make a change.”

Reid also said it’s “unfortunate” and “sad” that Kaepernick hasn’t been signed as a free agent.

Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who also took a knee during the anthem last season, said this week to the Denver Post’s Nicky Jhabvala that he believes Kaepernick is being blackballed. And he said that there is “absolutely” a double standard, considering many NFL owners got involved in the political world by donating millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“Quarterbacks are usually the face of the franchise. So, he’s probably being blackballed,” Marshall told the Denver Post. “Maybe part of it is owners don’t want their franchise tagged with that. But I still stand by what I said [on Twitter], that he’s the best quarterback in free agency. He’s better than all of those that got signed, the Matt Barkleys, the Nick Foleses. I think that’s a fair assessment, honestly.”

If Kaepernick’s anthem protest is causing him to be unsigned, perhaps it will dissuade others in the future from doing something similar. Maybe NFL teams hoped that would be the case after other players saw Kaepernick getting no attention in free agency. Either way, Kaepernick, Reid and Harold won’t be kneeling on an NFL sideline this fall.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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