By: Ruth Ferguson, NDG Editor
“I’ve been ready for three years,” Colin Kaepernick declared on Saturday at a workout held. “I’ve been denied for three years.”
Wednesday the NFL announced a workout was scheduled with all 32 teams invited. It was somewhat of a surprise announcement to Kaepernick reportedly and apparently neogations were going on behind the scenes right up to his surprise announcement of a different venue which was about an hour away from the Atlanta Falcons facilities.
The two sides came to an impasse regarding the liability waiver and media availability according to ESPN’s Vaughn McClure. Even with the last minute change, eight teams attended the workout and saw Kaepernick throw 60 scripted throws at an assortment of current and former NFL wide receivers. Naturally, the Dallas Cowboys was not one of the teams present. CBS is reporting the seven teams present were reps from: Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions.
The NFL was big mad at Kaepernick’s audible
“We are disappointed that Colin did not appear for his workout. He informed us of that decision at 2:30 pm today along with the public,” A statement released by the NFL stated. “Today’s session was designed to give Colin what he has consistently said he wants – an opportunity to show his football readiness and desire to return to the NFL.”
According to a statement issued by the NFL they did the following:
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The NFL made considerable effort to work cooperatively with Colin’s representatives. We invited his agent to suggest questions for the interview. Yesterday, when Colin’s representatives said he wanted to bring his own receivers to the workout, we agreed to the request. In addition, Coach Hue Jackson discussed with Colin’s agent what drills would be run at the workout so that Colin would know what would be expected of him.
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Last night, when Nike, with Colin’s approval, requested to shoot an ad featuring Colin and mentioning all the NFL teams present at the workout, we agreed to the request.
- On Wednesday, we sent Colin’s representatives a standard liability waiver based on the waiver used by National Invitational Camp at all NFL Combines and by NFL clubs when trying out free agent players. At noon today, Colin’s representatives sent a completely rewritten and insufficient waiver.
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We heard for the first time last night, around the same time we heard from Nike, that Colin wanted to bring his own video crew. We heard for the first time this afternoon that Colin wanted to open the event to all media.
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We agreed to have Colin’s representatives on the field while the workout was being conducted and to allow them to see how it was being recorded. We did so even though we have been clear from the beginning that this is private workout. As is typical with NFL Combines, one video crew was prepared to shoot and distribute video of the interview and workout. We confirmed with Colin’s representatives that they would receive both the video that would be sent to all 32 clubs as well as the raw footage from the entire event, which is unprecedented.
Apparently Kaep was not impressed by their efforts and held a workout at a local high school in Riverdale, Georgia. Reportedly about 250 fans were present.
His lawyer, Ben Meiselas in a statement called that waiver “unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues. They described their waiver as one related to standard liability from physical injury.
Kaep shows he still got mad skills
At the end of the day, how well did Kaepernick perform when given his opportunity to show if after three years of not playing, he still got what it takes?
Nancy Armour of USA Today says the NFL can no longer hide from the truth. Kap is ready and more than capable of playing in the NFL – today.
“The next time a starting quarterback goes down, or Mitchell Trubisky has another dreadful game, that team’s owner now has to either give Kaepernick a legitimate shot or admit that he values hate and ignorance over winning,” Armour wrote.
Naturally, those not in Kaepernick’s corner took to social media and sports radio talk shows to trash his decision and how he handled the workout. It will remain a tough decision for a team to make to sign him given the passions on both sides of the political issue.
Not to mention, the NFL really does not want to invite the Tweeter-in-Chief a chance to weigh back in on this issue, fanning the flames to suit his own political fortune heading into an election year.
The Dan Patrick Show shared via Twitter the rumor that Jay-Z pushed for this workout on behalf of Kaep because he is still trying to recover from the rep hit he took for his partnership with the league. Then they later tweeted that these rumors are reportedly just intended as a distraction.
Unfortunately, Jemele Hill summed up what many of Kaepernick’s supporters suspect in her tweet about Saturday’s workout.
“Again, I hope I’m wrong but I do not expect Kaepernick to play again,” Hill stated. “NFL teams did not need this workout for evidence he could still play. They could have brought him in at any point over the last 3 years. They chose not to for reasons that had nothing to do with football.”
He still holds on to the dream.
“I showed it today in front of everybody. We have nothing to hide. So we’re waiting for the 32 owners, 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them stop running, Kaepernick stated after his workout. “Stop running from the truth. Stop running from the people.”
