Jacobi Reddix September 9th, 2020 - 12:54 AM
EA has recently announced that Collin Kaepernick is returning to the Madden NFL games. The quarterback, who has not been spotted in the game since 2016, was also tagged in a Tweet published on the official Madden NFL twitter page, saying, “Colin Kaepernick is one of the top free agents in football and a starting-caliber quarterback. The team at EA Sports, along with millions of Madden NFL fans want to see him back in our games. ”
Welcome Back, Kap! pic.twitter.com/fmq6SkMAVf
— Madden NFL 21 (@EAMaddenNFL) September 8, 2020
In the longer version of the official statement, EA also says that “Knowing that our EA SPORTS experiences are platforms for players to create, we want to make Madden NFL a place that reflects Colin’s positions nad talent, rate him as a starting QB, and empowers our fans to express their hopes for the future of football. We’ve worked with Colin to make this possible, and we’re excited to bring it to all of you today.” EA sports had reportedly negotiated directly with Kaepernick for his comeback in Madden, and that the former player was very “hands-on” with his avatar. Currently, he has an overall rating of 81, putting him in the list of top 15 quarterbacks in the game.
— Madden NFL 21 (@EAMaddenNFL) September 8, 2020
Kaepernick’s appearances in the Madden NFL franchise started to dwindle after starting his silent protests against police brutality by kneeling during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After he made headlines, he became a free agent in the 2016 NFL season, which was then followed by the stop in appearances in the Madden games. During that time, EA also clarified that they were unable to obtain the rights to Kaepernick’s likeness and appearance for the Madden games due to him being a free agent at the time for the NFL. His name was also censored in both Madden 18 and 19, in which EA cleared it up as a mistake due to the fact that “Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks. We messed up, and the edit should have never happened.”
