Madden 21 players and football fans everywhere will know Colin Kaepernick's name. The former NFL starter was, essentially, blacklisted from the league after the 2016 season because he decided to protest police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem. In that year's edition of Madden, EA Sports did not include him as a free agent, like most unsigned players. Then, in Madden 19, the company scrubbed his name from a YG song they used on the soundtrack. They did correct that mistake in time, but it was still an incredibly odd thing to do in the first place.

With Madden 21, the team has finally decided to put

Welcome Back, Kap! pic.twitter.com/fmq6SkMAVf

— Madden NFL 23 (@EAMaddenNFL) September 8, 2020

" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kaepernick back in the game as a free agent. That means anyone can sign him and try to put his career back on track in the virtual world. Interestingly, Kaep is rated as an 81-overall quarterback. That puts him among the league's elite even though he hasn't played a competitive down since 2016.

That's not to say the rating isn't without warrant. Fans will likely remember Kaep's stunning run through the 2013 playoffs en route to a Super Bowl appearance. He followed that up with a monster contract and a decent season behind a leaky offensive line. From there, the team was a rotating door of head coaches until his release. So, while his last two years weren't up to his previous standard, the talent was there to meet the rating.

It's great to see the NFL and EA Sports finally embracing Kaep after so much time. Commissioner Roger Goodell has owned up to "not listening" to his players. Though, in his June statement, he never mentioned Kaepernick by name. That said, it's better late than never.

Madden 21 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game is a mess this year, but at least they finally did one thing right.