Kaepernick played for the Nevada football team from 2006 to 2010 and then in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers for six seasons from 2011-16. He quarterbacked the 49ers to the 2013 NFC championship game, where they lost to the Seattle Seahawks.

The Prince George’s County reception was star-studded already — at least by Maryland politics standards — with the governor and lieutenant governor, first lady, comptroller and a senator. And then former NFL player Colin Kaepernick showed up.