…Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar deal with the then-St.Louis Rams, to become an Army Ranger. He was killed in Afghanistan in a friendly-fire incident in 2004.
Colin Kaepernick walked away from a contract offer with the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season, to become a free agent. While the 49ers have maintained that Kaepernick would have been cut at the end of that season for financial reasons, there’s also no indication that Kaepernick believed he was walking away from football altogether when he walked away from San Francisco. In fact, his agents remained quite active in trying to find a new NFL home for him after the 49ers.
So, Favre’s comparison between Tillman – who absolutely did know he was walking away from the NFL in particular and potentially life in general, when he joined the Rangers. And Kaepernick, who at the time thought he was merely leaving San Francisco for another team, is tortured to say the least…..