Former New York Giant Osi Umenyiora says that Nike is “on the right side of history,” and that Colin Kaepernick will be remembered like “Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks.”

Kaepernick, who began the anthem protester movement in the preseason of 2016, was made the face of Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” ad campaign.

The shoe and sports apparel giant made the decision to feature Kaepernick despite the controversy surrounding the anthem protest movement, and the fact that the former 49er hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season.

Nike unveiled the first ad of the campaign on Wednesday:

Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/x5TnU7Z51i — Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 5, 2018

Umenyiora believed Kaepernick’s activism will be remembered much the same way people remember the activism of Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks.

According to the BBC Radio via Sporting News:

I think everybody against it now will look back in the future with regret. He’ll be regarded as someone that did something special. “Looking further back down the line, back in history, we’ve already seen what Muhammad Ali and Rosa Parks have done. And when you look into the future, Colin Kaepernick is going to go down as this particular type of athlete, somebody who took a stand for something he believed in. So Nike is eventually going to come down on the right side of history. We respect the office of the president of the United States but I’m not quite sure what [Donald Trump, a chief critic of Kaepernick] is doing.

Kaepernick is still not on an NFL roster and his collusion grievance against the NFL is soon to move to the trial phase.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn