The Ice Has Been Broken, But Will Seahawks Join Raiders in Giving Colin Kaepernick Workout?
At the time of this writing, it has been 1,912 days since Colin Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers and became a free agent. From that day forward, Kaepernick has been blackballed by the NFL in response to his stance against police brutality and racial injustice, making numerous attempts at a return to no avail.
Some five years later, however, Kaepernick has persevered and now looks to have his best chance at playing professional football again. On Wednesday, the Raiders hosted the 34-year old for a workout and, as sources indicated to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, it went well. That said, a contract has not yet been offered at this time.
According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, two other undisclosed teams had shown interest in Kaepernick prior to his aforementioned workout. Florio speculates one of those teams could be the Vikings, whose newly minted general manager, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, served as the 49ers' manager of football research and development during the peak of Kaepernick's career in San Francisco.
The Seahawks—one of the NFL's few teams without a determined starter at quarterback—are also a possibility. They were, of course, the only team to invite Kaepernick for a tryout shortly after his exit from the Bay Area and have been closely linked to him following the blockbuster trade of star quarterback Russell Wilson in March.
Kaepernick even linked up with Seattle receiver Tyler Lockett for an impromptu workout just a week after Wilson was dealt, then later made his way up to the Pacific Northwest for a showcase at the University of Washington. There, he connected with another current Seahawks receiver, Aaron Fuller, and expressed a desire to play in Seattle.
"We've [Kaepernick and the Seahawks] spoken recently and still hoping that door is open and get a chance to walk through it," Kaepernick said on March 23.
Kaepernick noted that Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll had been monitoring his recent workouts and even went as far as to say he looked "great" in them. Prior to that, Carroll had gone out of his way to voice his support for Kaepernick when he and general manager John Schneider made their first public appearance together following the Wilson trade on March 16. The Super Bowl champion coach opened the joint press conference with an extensive monologue focused on second chances and named Kaepernick as someone deserving of another opportunity.
"He contacted me the other day and said, ‘I would like to get a shot, I’m working out,’" Carroll revealed. "He sent me some videos and next thing I know, he’s working out with Tyler Lockett. I don’t know how that happened, but does he deserve a second shot? I think he does."
Yet, although he sung the ousted quarterback's praises, Carroll has remained non-committal about bringing Kaepernick in for a formal workout. As of May 26, while it's unknown if the two sides have maintained their line of communication with one another, the Seahawks have not exhibited any interest in pursuing Kaepernick and instead look poised to roll with either Geno Smith or Drew Lock under center.
It's worth noting that, despite the exchange of niceties, the temperature of Kaepernick and Seattle's relationship is difficult to gauge. After all, there is a potentially sizeable elephant in the room borne by the deposition of both Carroll and Scheneider back in May of 2018, which was conducted by Kaepernick's lawyers after the quarterback and activist filed a grievance against the NFL for league-wide collusion. Just a month before the deposition, the team had reportedly canceled a scheduled tryout with Kaepernick.
Pair that with Seattle's inaction following Carroll's recent comments and a few eyebrows are sure to be raised.
Perhaps that changes with Las Vegas breaking the ice and giving Kaepernick his first official NFL tryout since 2017. But so far, the Seahawks have done next to nothing to prove they like him as much as they've claimed.
