Colin Kaepernick isn’t done with the NFL yet.
The activist and longtime pro quarterback will get his first workout with an NFL team since 2017 when he throws for the Raiders later this week. The news comes from a report by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season for the San Francisco 49ers. That year he now-famously protested racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling during the American national anthem that plays before all pro football games.
The 34-year-old has been out of the league ever since. In 2019, the NFL reached a confidential settlement with Kaepernick after he filed a collusion grievance against the league.
Despite the circumstances, Kaepernick himself has never said he doesn’t want to play — most recently calling the owners’ bluff — and hasn’t given up on an NFL return.
It seems Raiders owner Mark Davis wants to be an owner who strays from his group of colleagues, as he told NBC Sports Bay Area last month:
“I believe in Colin Kaepernick,” Davis said. “He deserves every chance in the world to become a quarterback in the National Football League. I still stand by it. If our coaches and General Manager want to bring him in or want him to be the quarterback on this team, I would welcome him with open arms.”
Las Vegas will start the 2022 season with Josh McDaniels as their head coach and Dave Ziegler as their general manager — the first year for both. Derek Carr is the incumbent starting quarterback.
Soon enough, we’ll see where Kaepernick stands in that puzzle for the Raiders.
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