According to an NFL spokesperson, the league would be willing to work with Kaepernick on social justice initiatives.

The league also announced it will continue to leverage NFL Network and its other media properties to “place an increased emphasis on raising awareness and promoting education of social justice issues to our fans.”

“As someone who has personally lived through episodes of racism and injustice, and can unfortunately relate to what the majority of the NFL players encounter on a daily basis, I can say with complete conviction that we now have a real effort at the NFL to bring real and overdue change,” Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan said.

While the players in the league are overwhelmingly African American, there are currently just two African American head coaches.

The NFL has tried to get more minority head coaches with its Rooney Rule, a policy that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs.