Richard Sherman talks Colin Kaepernick, trade rumors with Stephen A. Smith on First Take

If rumors that the Seahawks might consider trading him for the right price bother cornerback Richard Sherman, he didn’t show it during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take Friday.

“I just laugh it off, man,” Sherman said. “It’s funny to me. But sometimes people need to see you gone to realize what you had. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. But I don’t let things like that bother me. The chips will fall how they’re supposed to.”

That Seattle could be open to trading Sherman was floated last week by longtime NFL exec Michael Lombardi on a podcast for TheRinger.com. Seattle execs haven’t comment on the story to date but will likely be asked about it at the league meetings Sunday-Wednesday in Phoenix.

Sherman also said he thinks former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed by the NFL for his political stances, which included sitting and then kneeling during the National Anthem last season.

“I’m sure he is,” Sherman said. “It’s difficult to see because he’s played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it’s difficult to understand. Obviously he’s going to be in a backup role at this point. But you see quarterbacks, there was a year (former Houston QB) Matt Schaub had a pretty rough year and got signed the next year. So it has nothing to do with football. You can see that. They signed guys who have had off years before.”

Sherman was also asked about the rumors that Marshawn Lynch is thinking of coming out of retirement to play for his hometown Oakland Raiders.

“Well, (Lynch has) been talking about Oakland,” Sherman said. “He’s from the town, so that’s like going home for him. It’d be like a basketball player growing up in L.A. and saying, ‘I’m going to play for the Lakers one day.’ It’s probably something he’s always wanted to do since he was a kid. So we’ve got no problem with that.”