Senator Marco Rubio strongly believes Colin Kaepernick has the talent to be on an NFL roster -- telling TMZ Sports it's not CK's skill that's preventing him from playing in the league.
The Republican politician is a HUGE football fan -- and with the Jacksonville Jaguars losing their starting QB, Nick Foles, to a shoulder injury, some people think the Jags should kick the tires on Kaepernick.
Rubio is one of those people ... telling us straight-up, "Certainly there aren't 64 better QBs playing in the NFL right now.