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The Las Vegas Raiders have made waves with their decision to bring in Colin Kaepernick for a workout. The polarizing quarterback hasn’t had a chance to work out for the team since the Seattle Seahawks brought him in back in 2017. Outside of owner Mark Davis offering support for the team to sign the quarterback, nothing substantial has linked the Raiders to him until now.
However, this interest didn’t come out of nowhere. According to Tyler Dragon of USA Today, the Raiders had been planning to work out Kaepernick “for a while” but made sure to keep things quiet so they could avoid creating “unnecessary attention.”
“Wednesday’s workout with the Raiders has been in the works for a while,” Dragon wrote on May 25. “The Raiders have kept things quiet because they didn’t want to create any unnecessary, per a source. NFL tryouts typically don’t generate national attention.”
Though May quarterback workouts don’t usually garner much interest, Kaepernick isn’t a normal player. The former starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers has been out of the NFL since 2016 after he started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality. Many have offered support for Kaepernick over the years, but that hasn’t helped him land a roster spot.
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Are Raiders Actually Interested in Kaepernick?
Despite not playing a down of football since 2016, Kaepernick is still one of the most talked-about football players. Even though he would be Derek Carr’s backup, much of the talk surrounding the Raiders would involve Kaepernick. There would be plenty of media coverage for a player who most likely would not play a single snap next season.
CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora tweeted that he believes the Raiders are genuinely interested in seeing what Kaepernick can do.
“Sense I get is Colin Kaepernick workout with the Raiders is a legitimate effort to assess his ability and take a close look at what he can do,” La Canfora tweeted on May 25. “They don’t have a lot of proven options behind Carr. He is looking at it as an opportunity to show he belongs in the NFL.”
Head coach Josh McDaniels worked for almost two decades in two different stints with the New England Patriots, an organization that typically has not gone of its way for media attention. So there’s little reason to believe McDaniels would want to work out Kaepernick for anything other than football reasons.
Raiders Have Underwhelming Backup QBs
Taking a chance on Kaepernick would seem to make sense given that he would not demand a big contract and has a track record that most backups don’t: 58 career starts and a Super Bowl appearance.
Also, the Raiders currently have an underwhelming group of quarterbacks to back up Carr. The trio of Nick Mullens, Jarrett Stidham and Chase Garbers have a combined 17 starts, which all come from Mullens. None of them has been a true starting quarterback. All of Mullens’ starts have come because of injuries to players higher on the depth chart.
Kaepernick, 34, hasn’t taken a snap since 2016, but he’s 6-foot-4 and athletic with a big arm. Perhaps he could lead the Raiders to a win or two if Carr had to miss any starts. In his 58 starts, Kaepernick is 28-30 with 72 touchdowns against 30 interceptions.
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