It’s been over 1,000 days since Colin Kaepernick last saw action during an NFL game. In five meaningful seasons as a San Francisco 49er, he amassed over 12,000 passing yards, 2,300 rushing yards, and was responsible for 85 touchdowns. At just 32 years old, he holds the league record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game, 181. He also holds the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single postseason, 264. He led his team to six playoff games and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII.
All those digits aside, though, it’s never really been about numbers with Kaepernick. His political activism made him radioactive in the eyes of the league’s owners once he opted out of his contract with the 49ers in 2017 prior to a team-conveyed imminent release. Now, three years later, when Kaepernick conducts a private workout – organized by the league without his input – for teams who are interested in auditioning the six-year veteran, the story will, in large part, be about numbers. Namely, how many teams send a representative to the cattle-call session?
The Dallas Cowboys will be among that number.
The workout is set to take place in Atlanta this Saturday and is open to all 32 teams in the league. Given the weekend timing and the travel schedules of teams playing road contests, it is thought that few (if any) head coaches or general managers will be present. Instead, most teams will likely be represented in person by lower assistants or scouts.
Details on Colin Kaepernick’s Saturday workout at the #Falcons facility that has the feel of a Combine:
— It begins at 3 pm
— Interview is at 3:15 pm
— Measurements, stretching & warmups are next.
— Timing & testing at 3:50 pm
— QB drills at 4:15
All parts recorded for 32 teams.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 13, 2019
Coach Jason Garrett would not confirm the Cowboys’ attendance when asked for comment during his Wednesday press conference.
“I’m not really in-tuned to that situation very much,” Garrett said, per Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk. “We have personnel people who evaluate all guys who have an opportunity to hopefully help our team.”
Starting quarterback Dak Prescott is having a transcendent season for Dallas. But behind him, the club has Cooper Rush backing him up. Rush, an undrafted third-year player out of Central Michigan, has completed one pass for two yards on three attempts in his career. Many teams have managed to keep rolling despite losing their starting passer this season- Indianapolis, Carolina, New Orleans, and Kansas City, to name a few. The Cowboys’ season, though, would almost assuredly collapse immediately were Prescott to go down with an injury.
With his grievance against the NFL (accusing the league’s owners of colluding to prevent his employment on a roster) settled back in February, it has been widely thought that Kaepernick would eventually get another chance to latch on with a team. Kaepernick, for his part, has stayed ready during his entire time away.
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
There’s a lot to unpack about the way the one-man combine has come about. It’s a league-arranged affair. It came with terribly short notice, for teams as well as for Kaepernick. And while a list of the teams in attendance is not expected to be made public, it’s a virtual guarantee that note will be taken (by somebody, somewhere) of which teams do not send a representative, even if they weren’t seriously in the market for a quarterback anyway. And beyond all of that, there’s the simple fact that any team who wanted to kick the tires on Kaepernick could have done so at any moment of their choosing, at their own facility, without 31 other teams also participating.
It reeks of a dog-and-pony show. But with the Cowboys’ backup situation far more tenuous than most teams’, the organization appears ready to play along.
Half of the teams in the league have had to give meaningful snaps this season to a quarterback who was not their preseason Plan A. With that rate of attrition, it was literally just a matter of time before someone called the Nevada alum for a tryout. And even though they haven’t been what’s defined Kaepernick’s career, numbers may just be the thing that resurrects his NFL dream.
Because it only takes one team to give him a second chance.