Colin Kaepernick’s NFL bid goes off the rails

Less than an hour before the exiled quarterback’s hastily organised tryout, it became clear it was about to go off the rails.

Free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick participates in a workout for NFL football scouts Picture: AP

Less than an hour before Colin Kaepernick was set to work out before more than two dozen teams in an NFL-organised event in Atlanta, it became clear that the hastily orchestrated summit between the exiled quarterback and the league was about to go off the rails.

Kaepernick, the NFL star who hasn’t played since 2016 after leading social-justice protests during the national anthem at National Football League games, had been summoned to Atlanta for a workout that the league said would give him what he wanted — a shot at returning to the league.

But shortly before the event was to begin at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility, Kaepernick baulked and changed plans to host his own workout at a local field an hour away. His representatives skewered the NFL over a variety of concerns, which the league countered with a withering statement accusing Kaepernick of backing out of his shot at a return to the NFL.

In the space of a couple of hours, the event that was supposed to give Kaepernick a route back to the league instead descended into a theatre of the absurd. He threw footballs on a high-school field outside of Atlanta. It isn’t clear how many NFL scouts made it to the workout in the end.

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“I’ve been ready for three years, I’ve been denied for three years,” Kaepernick said after he finished working out. “We’re waiting for the 32 owners, the 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running — stop running from the truth, stop running from the people.”

Even as the event was about to begin, the two sides were already sniping at each other.

In a statement addressing Kaepernick’s issues with the event, his agent and lawyer wrote that the NFL asked Kaepernick to sign an “unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues.” Kaepernick also wanted the workout to be open to the media to “ensure transparency,” they said, which the NFL had denied.

“Based on the prior conduct by the NFL league office, Mr. Kaepernick simply asks for a transparent and open process, which is why a new location has been selected for today,” lawyer Ben Meiselas and agent Jeff Nalley wrote in their statement.

As Kaepernick proceeded to conduct the workout with video cameras and reporters present, the NFL took off its gloves and made pointed remarks directly aimed at Kaepernick’s conduct surrounding the event.

In a statement, the NFL said: “We are disappointed that Colin did not appear for his workout.”

The NFL’s statement said the workout the league had organised gave Kaepernick “what he has consistently said he wants — an opportunity to show his football readiness and desire to return to the NFL.”

Twenty-five teams were scheduled to attend the workout, the league said, adding that league officials only heard for the first time that afternoon that he wanted to open it to the media. The NFL said the waiver Kaepernick’s team proposed was “insufficient” after the league issued a standard one.

But there was absolutely nothing standard about this event.

Kaepernick is in his third year out of the NFL, since he led player protests during the national anthem against issues such as police brutality in 2016 while a member of the San Francisco 49ers. His activism up-ended the league, which had to face critics including President Trump, who called the protests unpatriotic, and others who supported the demonstrations and his freedom of speech.

Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league, saying the NFL and its 32 teams colluded to keep him unsigned because of his outspoken political views. That grievance was settled earlier this year, and he has remained a free agent despite a statistical resume superior to many other quarterbacks who have been given jobs in the NFL.

During Kaepernick’s time unsigned, he and his supporters consistently levelled one charge: that no team had even worked him out to test his abilities during those nearly three years. As recently as October, his agents had put out a statement emphasising that and reiterating both his eagerness to play and that he has been diligently staying in shape.

Then, after inquiries from at least two teams about Kaepernick’s status, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell decided to stage a highly unusual, individual workout that would be organised by the league for him. Earlier this week, the NFL invited all 32 teams to the Falcons’ practice facility to watch Kaepernick go through drills and throw. The event was going to be conducted by Hue Jackson and Joe Philbin, two former NFL head coaches.

Although Kaepernick agreed, eyebrows were raised. Some wondered why the event was thrown together on such short notice. There were also questions about why the event was held on a Saturday, when key NFL decision makers are either preparing for a Sunday game or scouting college prospects. The league rebuffed a suggestion to move the event to a Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter had said.

Those qualms — and the persistent drama that has surrounded the Kaepernick-NFL relationship for years now — all led up to Saturday.

The event was scheduled to begin at 3pm, and include an interview portion along with the workout itself. It was going to be closed off from the public, though it was going to be filmed for every team to have the footage afterwards.

Then, less than an hour before it was set to begin, Kaepernick shifted course: Because of his issues over the event, he went to conduct his own workout. The NFL quickly fired back.

The NFL’s statement concluded: “He remains an unrestricted free agent eligible to sign with any club.”

Kaepernick ended by saying: “The ball is in their court, we’re ready to go.”

Wall Street Journal