Colin Kaepernick’s NFL exile looks set to continue for the foreseeable future with reports emerging that none of the league’s 32 teams have reached out to him following his public workout earlier this month.
Seven teams sent scouts to an event in Georgia last week, in which the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback threw to receivers, and the other 25 were sent videotape of the session.
League sources told ESPN that none of the teams have since contacted Kaepernick and his representatives. Kaepernick turned 32 at the start of this month, an age in which most quarterbacks are in their prime, and has not played a game in the NFL since he left the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season.
Kaepernick believes he was blackballed by the league after kneeling during the national anthem in protest at racial and social injustice in the United States.
However, the NFL gave him a chance to work out in front of team scouts in the Atlanta suburbs last weekend. Kaepernick then moved the venue at the last minute after a dispute over the contract regarding the workout. The NFL said it was “disappointed” at the late change of venue, while some of Kaepernick’s supporters believed the workout was a token gesture to show the league had attempted to reach out to the quarterback.
"I've been ready for three years," Kaepernick said last week. "I've been denied for three years. We all know why I came out here. [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 to stop running. Stop running from the truth. Stop running from the people."
Kaepernick's close friend Eric Reid, who plays for the Carolina Panthers, believes his former team-mate still has the ability to make an impact in the NFL.
“The goal was accomplished,” said Reid, who wore a Kaepernick jersey as he spoke to reporters last Sunday. “He proved he can play this game. He proved he can throw the ball. Elite. That’s what an NFL executive said.” – Guardian
