I’m just getting word from my representatives that the NFL league office reached out to them about a workout in Atlanta on Saturday. I’ve been in shape and ready for this for 3 years, can’t wait to see the head coaches and GMs on Saturday.— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) November 13, 2019
Because none of the NFL teams were informed of the workout before Tuesday and Kap's camp is not even being told which teams will have a representative there, this whole thing seems hastily cobbled together. Plus, literally every NFL team has had the opportunity to bring in Kaepernick for a private workout at any point over the past 2-1/2 years but very few (if any) have done so. So why is it taking an NFL orchestrated event to get teams to show up?
My friend and former radio colleague Ed Morrissey has an interesting theory.
One possible explanation exists for this, including the strange scheduling, the demand for a combine in the middle of the season, and the unprovoked outreach — which is that the NFL needs someone to hire Kaepernick ASAP, for whatever reason. It might not be a lawsuit, but it could have to do with its player relations. Kaepernick had a lot of friends in this league and supporters who have mainly quieted down and stopped embarrassing the league, and they may be making it clear that they expect some payback now for their cooperation. Plus, the league and the NFL Players Association will shortly begin working on a new collective bargaining agreement, and an unemployed Kaepernick might make that a lot more difficult.
Consider this perhaps-coincidental report that emerged the day before the league announced the Kaepernick event:
Cowboys defensive end Michael Bennett reportedly said Monday that his new teammates in Dallas, not team owner Jerry Jones, convinced him to start standing on the sidelines during pregame renditions of the national anthem.
Bennett, one of the league’s most outspoken players on social issues, as well as a prominent advocate for Colin Kaepernick’s return to the NFL, had been staging forms of protest during the anthem since the 2017 season. When he was acquired last month from the New England Patriots, he reportedly reached an understanding with Dallas, and Jones said at the time, “I’m satisfied that, in Michael, we’ve got a player who knows how we do it here with the Cowboys.”
Sure enough, in his first two games with his new team, Bennett was seen standing on the sidelines as the anthem was being performed. With the Patriots earlier in the season and with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018, he stayed in the locker room, and he sat on the sidelines while with the Seattle Seahawks in 2017.
Did Bennett just suddenly throw his friend under the bus, or was he the last piece to fall into place for Kaepernick’s return?
I think it's more a situation of the NFL trying to absolve itself of this issue once and for all. If indeed Kaepernick remains unsigned after this workout, the league can say they made a concerted effort to showcase him but, at the end of they day, cannot legally compel teams to make a contract offer. But, again, since the planning of this event seems so disjointed, you certainly can't blame some current and former players for dismissing this as little more than a public relations stunt.
At the end of the day, it's difficult for me to believe that not a single one of the 32 NFL clubs has a need for a QB like Kaepernick. Given the caliber of talent which has been trotted out on the field since Kap's last NFL start at the end of 2016, I'm quite confident that Kaepernick, at the very least, can exceed what some QBs have put forth in that time frame.
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