On Wednesday, Colin Kaepernick did something that a lot of people didn’t think was possible. The one-time NFL quarterback turned social activist was invited to work out for an NFL team in 2022 as the Las Vegas Raiders broke the seal.
The workout apparently went well and now it’s a waiting game to see if the Raiders decide to sign Kaepernick to their roster or if other NFL teams will now feel better about inviting him to work out for them. Kaepernick brings a lot of baggage with him in the eyes of NFL owners, but if he can still throw the ball and play at a pro level, exceptions have been made for far worse people.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, two other NFL teams were already kicking the tires on Kaepernick before Las Vegas invited him.
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, two other teams were showing interest in Kaepernick before the Raiders workout,” said Florio on Thursday.
As for who those two teams are and whether or not they’ll invite him in for a workout as well remains to be seen. Florio did say in a prior post that he had been discussing Kaepernick with Minnesota Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on Wednesday and asked if the franchise might consider giving the QB a look. His answer was…less than concrete.
“When we do player evaluations, I would say it’s exhaustive,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We consider everything. There is, and again I don’t want to name specific players, but we do an exhaustive approach to it. If you’re not considering all the options out there, especially at a position like that, then you’re probably doing it wrong. We have ongoing conversations all the time. Again, I don’t want to be specific about whether it was him or anybody else, but that’s our job in personnel to be open-minded and creative about solutions and we’ll continue to do so.”
It has been long assumed that the Seattle Seahawks would be interested, though they have denied any further conversations have taken place and seem to be publicly backing the notion that it will be Drew Lock or Geno Smith to start the season. Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers also find themselves in need of a dependable quarterback solution. But it’s all conjecture at this point.
Still, now that the door has been opened, it will be interesting to see which NFL teams, if any, take a chance on considering Kaepernick.
[PFT]
