The long tug-of-war between the NFL and Colin Kaepernick might actually be reaching a state of détente.
As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the league itself has arranged a workout for the ex-49ers quarterback, who hasn’t played in the NFL since the end of the 2016 season. It will be held on Saturday at the Falcons’ facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia. The league sent out a memo about the workout to all 32 teams, and all teams have been invited to attend. There will be an on-field workout and an interview.
“Earlier this year, we discussed some possible steps with his representatives, and they recently emphasized his level of preparation and that he is ready to work out for clubs and be interviewed by them,” the memo said, in part. “We have therefore arranged this opportunity for him to work out, and for all clubs to have the opportunity to evaluate his current readiness and level of interest in resuming his NFL career.”
The workout will be run by Jeff Foster, the president of NFL Scouting, who is also responsible for determining which draft prospects will attend each scouting combine. Former head coaches Hue Jackson and Joe Philbin will help out; both coaches have a long track record of working with quarterbacks.
Per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, the workout will start at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. There will be a preliminary workout to start, with measurables presumably taken. At 4:00 p.m., there will be scripted passing drills with receivers. A videotaped interview will take place before the workout; this and video of the workouts will be given to all 32 NFL teams so that they can determine Kaepernick’s readiness to return to the league. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Falcons will provide an equipment person, a trainer, and a videographer.
The NFL has not provided Kaepernick with a list of the receivers the league might make available for the workouts, so there is a possibility that Kaepernick will bring his own receivers. Generally speaking, for any pro day, combine, or mid-week workout, a quarterback will at least have a basic idea of the receivers he’ll be throwing to.
Last February, the NFL and Kaepernick’s representatives reached a settlement in the collusion grievance filed by Kaepernick and current Panthers safety Eric Reid. Both players believed that they had been effectively blacklisted from the league for their practice of kneeling for the national anthem before games to protest police brutality and other civil rights violations. Reid and Kaepernick played together in San Francisco from 2013 through 2016; Reid was subsequently signed by the Panthers in September 2018 and later signed a three-year contract extension.
Kaepernick, of course, hasn’t played at all since 2016, though there has been middling interest from a few teams. In his last NFL season, he threw 16 touchdowns and four interceptions for a 49ers team led by Chip Kelly that featured one of the poorest offensive rosters in the league. He also helped the 49ers reach Super Bowl XLVII at the end of the 2012 season, replacing Alex Smith halfway through the season after Smith suffered a concussion. Kaepernick was highly effective through the end of the 2014 season, as head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman devised a series of schemes that made it difficult to defend him as a runner or passer.
Beyond the NFL’s possible desire to save face, the similarities between Kaepernick’s peak tenure in San Francisco and what’s currently going on in Baltimore might be a primary reason for the dam breaking now. Roman is now the Ravens’ offensive coordinator and the prime mover behind an offense that has Lamar Jackson throwing dimes all over the field and on pace to break Michael Vick’s single-season rushing record for a quarterback. That John Harbaugh, Jim’s brother, is presiding over it all? That just makes it more interesting.
“Yeah, to a degree,” John Harbaugh said last month when I asked if he’s talked to his brother (now the University of Michigan’s head coach) about the inner workings of the San Francisco offense. “I mean, he’s pretty busy, as you know. Over the course of the last year, we talked a little bit about those kinds of things. Jim is a great resource for that and a lot of other things, too. He’s a great coach, and I lean on him quite a bit.”
Perhaps the NFL, unable to figure out how to stop Jackson, would like to create a duplicate version that has already been proven to work?
The other option here — and given the NFL’s history in this matter, it must be discussed — is that this is a show to save face. Should Kaepernick look rusty after almost three years out of the league, or if he doesn’t answer questions the way coaches and executives prefer, it will be easy enough to say, “Hey, we gave him a shot. It didn’t work out, and it’s time to move on.”
Hopefully, Kaepernick will get a fair opportunity to show whether he’s still good enough to be an NFL quarterback. That’s all he’s asked since his status as an NFL quarterback was abruptly canceled.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar has also covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”