Richard Sherman: 'I'm sure' Kaepernick is being blackballed

Richard Sherman has seen enough of Colin Kaepernick to believe something strange is going on for him to not be signed at this point in free agency.

Sherman has spent the last six seasons getting a firsthand look at the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, so he didn't need to think much when asked if he believes Kaepernick is being blackballed on ESPN's "First Take" on Friday.

"I'm sure he is," Sherman said, according to ESPN's Sheil Kapadia. "It's difficult to see because he's played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it's difficult to understand.

"Obviously he's going to be in a backup role at this point. But you see quarterbacks, there was a year Matt Schaub had a pretty rough year and got signed the next year."

Sherman initially called Kaepernick a backup, but changed his mind later in the interview, arguing the mobile passer is actually a top-13 quarterback.

"You don't have 32 starting-level quarterbacks in this league," Sherman said. "You have about eight, nine elite quarterbacks. You have two or three who have the potential to be elite. And then you have the rest of the teams. So he could play and start on a ton of teams in this league.

"He would be a starter on probably 20 of the teams in this league."