Just over a month after his National Anthem protest broke the internet, Colin Kaepernick reportedly had a workout with the Oakland Raiders yesterday. The 33-year old quarterback has not been signed by an NFL team since 2016 and he’s still seeking employment in this league. Some people were surprised that he would take such a risk but it seems to have gone well for him from what we can tell so far.
Colin Kaepernick is one of the most polarizing players in the NFL. He has been a starter for the San Francisco 49ers since 2011, but he was recently released by the team. Despite all this, many teams are still interested in him and his workout went well. Read more in detail here: where is colin kaepernick now.
While Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in an NFL game in quite some time, the quarterback seems to be returning to the field. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback recently checked out for the Las Vegas Raiders; Raiders owner Mark Davis has already expressed his support for Kaepernick, and it seems like the team is looking for a new backup quarterback.
That story drew a lot of attention, and we now know a little more about how the exercise went. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Kaep “didn’t blow everyone away,” but the practice was “a pretty strong progression” overall.
Colin Kaepernick apparently done enough to keep his chances of signing with the Raiders alive.
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Given that Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played professional football since 2016, it’s natural if he’s a little rusty. Teams would most likely be more interested in seeing whether his breakthrough qualities, such as quickness and arm strength, stayed intact. According to Breer, the Raiders witnessed something similar.
“Colin Kaepernick’s session with the Raiders… was promising,” he wrote in his MMQB column on May 30. “I’d say there’s an open door for a deal, but it’s unlikely to happen right now.” The exercise itself went off without a hitch. He didn’t take everyone by surprise or anything. Even at 34 years old and five seasons out of the league, he demonstrated that he is in good form and that his arm strength is still intact. The bottom line for Vegas, in my opinion, is twofold. For one thing, owner Mark Davis has long been a supporter of Kaepernick and his cause, so being the club to give him a chance aligns with his philosophy. Two, there aren’t a zillion quarterbacks capable of playing in the NFL. So, if the Raiders are going to be a club that searches under every rock, as Josh McDaniels said last week, this is one to turn over. For the time being, I believe Kaepernick performed well enough to stay in the conversation.”
What does this mean for the quarterback? He’ll most likely have to play the waiting game at this point.
“And my bet is the Raiders will use the remainder of the spring to examine the men they’ve been working with behind Derek Carr, Nick Mullens, and Jarrett Stidham,” Breer said. “But for now, it’s a great sign for a quarterback who is three and a half years older than Carr and who, I believe, legitimately wants to fight for a job this summer (I’m not sure NFL clubs were persuaded that was the case in the past).”
If we take everything at face value, Kaepernick has a good chance of making the team.
At the 2022 Michigan Spring Game, Colin Kaepernick attempts a pass. | Jaime Crawford/Getty Images
However, Breer wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Mike Garafolo stated on NFL Total Access that he expects Kaepernick will be on an NFL team for the 2022 season.
He explained, “I’ll say yes.” “It may very well be the Raiders,” he says. And the fact that they didn’t sign him right away doesn’t always mean they’ve moved on. It’s more about seeing where this goes, looking at our roster, and seeing where else he works out. That might also be a factor. But I’m going to say yes, and it’ll most likely be in Las Vegas. We’ll have to wait and see.”
While there are some obvious limitations — Kaepernick will be 35 years old for the 2018 season and has been out of football for many years, complicating a comeback — one truth remains. If you simply need a backup quarterback, Kaep is definitely a better choice than the other possibilities.
Consider Mullens and Stidham in this scenario. The former player played in the NFL for four years, starting 17 games. In those games, he’s thrown for 4,861 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions. Stidham’s professional track record is even more limited, as he only threw 48 passes in two years in New England.
While we don’t know what the Raiders are looking for in a backup quarterback — you could argue that having Stidham on the roster as a potential development project has some value — it appears unlikely that the team will look at either of those two men and say, “He can win us eight games in an emergency.” If you only need a backup quarterback to take over if Carr goes down with an injury, Kaepernick is a good option. Is he going to take over as starter and throw 45 touchdowns while also rushing for another 20? Of course not, but, as Breer pointed out, the skill pool is limited. If the former 49er can easily outperform the competition, he should be considered for the position.
At this point, though, everyone concerned will have to do nothing except wait. It will take at least a couple more months for Kaepernick to get an NFL job after five years without one.
Pro-Football-Reference provided the statistics.
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