Colin Kaepernick’s dream of an NFL return hasn’t faded yet — even though he hasn’t played in a game since the 2016 season.

His girlfriend, Nessa Diab, told TMZ Sports that Kaepernick, 37, is training “all day, every day” in hopes of prompting a team to sign the former quarterback, who has long maintained the stance that he was blackballed by teams after kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.

“Nothing has changed,” Diab told the outlet of Kaepernick’s training, who later added that “it’s all up to the teams if they’ll let him” play.

It echoed a sentiment similar to what Kaepernick has maintained in interviews the last two years, including one with Sports Illustrated in 2023 where he said that people “may have forgotten what I was capable of doing on the field” — and that he looked forward to an opportunity where he had an opportunity to make a roster based on talent and “not the political bias that you have.”

His last NFL workout came with the Raiders in May 2022, according to The Athletic, but after Aaron Rodgers sustained a season-ending Achilles injury early in the 2023 season, Kaepernick wrote a letter to former Jets general manager Joe Douglas and presented himself as a “risk-free contingency plan” on the practice squad.

“Worst case scenario, you see what I have to offer and you’re not that impressed,” Kaepernick wrote at the time. “Best case scenario, you realize you have a real weapon at your disposal in the event you ever need to use it. In either of these scenarios, I would be committed to getting your defense ready week in and week out, all season long, and I would wear that responsibility like a badge of honor.”

His letter never led to a workout.

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who coached him in San Francisco, told reporters ahead of the 2024 season that he spoke with Kaepernick about the possibility of a role on the coaching staff, but it never materialized — and Kaepernick, during an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” pushed back and said that conversation never happened.

“I found out the same way everyone else did — on social media,” Kaepernick said, while adding that he has no interest in coaching. “I was like, ‘Oh, I got a coaching offer.’ No, no coaching offer.”

So his NFL ledger has remained the same since his most recent game on Jan. 1, 2017, when Kaepernick completed 17 of 22 pᴀsses for 215 yards and a touchdown against the Seahawks.

The former second-round pick helped the 49ers advance to the Super Bowl in 2014 before falling to the Ravens, and he collected a 69-58 record during the regular-season — throwing for 12,271 yards, 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions during those games — across his six campaigns in San Francisco.