“I think that there was a moment in time that a young man captured. He took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take,” Carroll said while speaking on The Ringer’s Flying Coach podcast with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Tuesday.

“… But what happened from the process is it elevated awareness from people that just took everything away from what the statement was all about, and it just got tugged and pulled and ripped apart.

“And the whole mission of what the statement was, such a beautiful … it’s still the statement that we’re making right today. We’re not protecting our people. We’re not looking after one another. We’re not making the right choices. We’re not following the right process to bring people to justice when actions are taken. So I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that a young man makes, but those are the courageous moments that some guys take.

“And we owe a tremendous amount to him for sure.”

The Seahawks were linked to Kaepernick two years ago, when they discussed hosting the free-agent quarterback for a preseason workout. But the April visit was called off after Kaepernick declined to inform the Seahawks whether he planned to stop kneeling for the anthem, according to ESPN and multiple reports.

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