Michael Vick on advising Colin Kaepernick to get a haircut: ‘I’m truly sorry for what I said’

Michael Vick said he was only trying to help Colin Kaepernick. Vick also said his comments were taken out of context. But, most importantly, Vick said he is sorry for saying Kaepernick needed to cut his afro to help in his search for another job as an NFL quarterback.

“What I said, I never should have said,” Vick said Thursday on the “Dan Patrick Show.”

“I think it was taken out of context in regards to what I was trying to convey, but I only want to help Colin Kaepernick. I’m not a general manager, I’m not the guy who makes the decisions on getting him signed, and I’m truly sorry for what I said. I think I should have used a better choice of words. Obviously we all know his afro has nothing to do with him not being signed.”

On Monday, Vick appeared on FS1’s “Speak for Yourself” and discussed why he feels Kaepernick, less than five years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, hasn’t landed an NFL job since opting out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March.

Vick suggested that Kaepernick’s long hair, worn as an afro or in cornrows, wasn’t doing him any favors during his search for employment.

“Just go clean cut, you know? Why not?” said Vick, who sometimes wore his own hair in an Afro or cornrows in his younger days. “The most important thing that he needs to do is just try to be presentable.”

Vick also asserted during that interview that Kaepernick’s recent play on the field is the main reason he hasn’t found work at this point. Still, the retired quarterback received a lot of criticism for his haircut comments, which Vick tried to clarify with a tweet the following day.

Vick was able to resurrect his NFL career after spending nearly two years in prison for a dog-fighting conviction. But he told Patrick that his playing career had nothing to do with his decision to change the way he presented himself at that point in his life.

“It was more for my personal appearance and what I really wanted, and speaking to kids and trying to help kids look at life differently,” Vick said, adding that he wanted to be “somebody who they can look up to. I think it started with my appearance and the message I was trying to convey at the time, being sincere, being genuine and being honest.”

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii