Chip Kelly says Colin Kaepernick was a model quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers last season.

"He came to work every day, extremely diligent in terms of his preparation, in terms of his work ethic," Kelly told Adam Schefter on the reporter's podcast. "I really enjoyed Kap. I've talked to Kap three or four times since. I think he's a really good player and a really good person, and I really enjoyed coaching him."

Kelly added that Kaepernick's decision to kneel for the national anthem was never a distraction to the team.

"He explained to all the players his thought process and mindset of what he was doing," Kelly said. "And there were some players that agreed with him and some players that didn't agree with him. But after that point, we heard from the outside about what a distraction it is, except those people weren't in our locker room and it never was a distraction. [Kaepernick] never turned it into a circus or whatever people think."