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The National Football League doesn’t want Colin Kaepernick. The Alliance of American Football does.

If Kaepernick wants the AAF.

Appearing on The Mark and Rich Show on XTRA 1360 in San Diego, AAF director of football operations J.K. McKay was asked whether the upstart league is interested in the blackballed quarterback.

“That’s a very good question,” McKay said. “I don’t know the answer yet. I don’t know if we’ve had any conversations yet. If he’s interested in playing, absolutely we’ll talk about it.”

That last part of the response is intriguing. Does McKay mean “if Kaepernick is interested in playing for the AAF,” or does McKay mean “if Kaepernick is interested in playing at all”? If it’s the latter, some may wonder whether the AAF — which clearly hopes to become a complement to the NFL — is trying in a not-so-subtle way to bolster the NFL’s not-so-subtle position that Kaepernick doesn’t really want to play football.

And, yes, J.K. McKay is the brother of Falcons CEO and NFL Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay, further underscoring the connection between the AAF and the league that currently faces a collusion claim from Kaepernick.

Of course, Kaepernick may be very interested in playing in the NFL but not interested in playing for a lesser league. Even if the NFL has no apparent interest in him, for reasons apparently unrelated to ability.