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The eyes of the sports world will be watching for any Colin Kaepernick workout info on Saturday. The controversial quarterback is finally getting another chance as he hasn’t played a down of NFL football since 2016. Despite the fact that the workout is just a day before football is to be played, the NFL has revealed that there will be 11 teams in attendance.
Many of the teams attending are set at starting quarterback, but Kaepernick probably isn’t a starter at this point in his career. The Oakland Raiders are a team that is good at starter and backup quarterback. While it’s possible that they’ll do their due diligence in some way, according to the NFL, they are not among the teams that will be attending the workout.
It’s interesting that the Raiders are deciding to sit this one out because it wouldn’t hurt to send a scout to watch. Kaepernick isn’t starting over Derek Carr anytime soon, but if he looks like an improvement over Mike Glennon or DeShone Kizer, it might be at least worth a look.
Raiders Could Want to Avoid the Optics
Kaepernick is one of the most polarizing figures in NFL history. It could rub some fans the wrong way even if the Raiders attended the workout. As NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported, the NFL will be filming the workout and sending it to all 32 teams. Oakland would obviously be among the teams receiving the tape.
The Raiders are about to make a move to Las Vegas and can’t afford to rub any potential fans the wrong way. Also, what people seem to avoid talking about is that if Kaepernick was good enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, he probably would be. Marshawn Lynch sat for the national anthem long before the quarterback did and nobody cared because he was good. The same goes for Eric Reid and Michael Bennett, who are both still on NFL teams. For the Raiders, a Kaepernick addition doesn’t seem to have any value.
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It’s Doubtful Kaepernick Gets Signed by Any Team
Politics aside, Kaepernick would be on an NFL roster if he was good enough. Yes, he’s probably better than a lot of the backups in the NFL, but is it really worth it to have a controversial figure on the roster if he’s not even going to play? Why the NFL is deciding to hold this workout for Kaepernick is unprecedented and bizarre. If a team was interested in him, they could’ve held him to a private workout.
The only thing that makes sense is that no single team wants to take the PR hit of having him come in for a single workout. If multiple teams are watching Kaepernick workout on a neutral field, then it is less likely for one team to get singled out. However, that brings us to the biggest problem: It is still highly unlikely a team is going to sign him. If teams are scared to even hold a private workout for him, then it’s hard to imagine a team is going to be willing to add him to the roster. Kaepernick is going to remain controversial for quite a while, but him getting signed would at least eliminate one controversy. It will be fascinating to see what comes from Saturday’s workout.
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