Colin Kaepernick may drop out of NFL's Saturday workout, according to reports

Jordan Heck

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Colin Kaepernick may drop out of NFL's Saturday workout, according to reports image

The NFL's sudden scheduled workout for Colin Kaepernick may not happen.

According to various reports, the league reached out to representatives for Kaepernick on Tuesday to set up a workout for the free agent quarterback. Once agreed, the league sent a memo inviting all 32 teams an invite to attend. The whole situation caught most involved off-guard.

From The Ringer:

Kaepernick’s team was contacted sometime Tuesday by NFL representatives explaining the request. Most free-agent workouts happen on Tuesday. According to the source, Kaepernick was told that the NFL needed a response “in two hours” if he was serious about the opportunity. Kaepernick and his representatives scrambled to rearrange their schedules to fit in the request, but several around Kaepernick wondered why it came in such an urgent manner. For one, a Saturday tryout conflicts with the regular NFL scouting of college football games; for another, forcing high-end NFL personnel to get on flights to and from Atlanta hours before Sunday’s kickoffs seems likely to limit the number of attendees. “It didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” the source told me.

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Kaepernick's team reportedly asked the NFL to reschedule to Tuesday and were told no. They then asked if it could be moved to the following Saturday to allow teams a proper notice, and were also told no. It's not clear why the NFL made Saturday, Nov. 16 the mandatory date.

There are other critical elements involved that have given Kaepernick and his team pause, according to Yahoo Sports. A Wednesday night Yahoo report claimed the issues could rise "potentially to the point that the event could still fall apart before Saturday."

Those issues include, according to Yahoo:

  • The NFL is refusing to provide a confirmed list of teams attending;
  • The NFL provided no throwing script;
  • The NFL hasn't said who Kaepernick will be throwing to.

Both Yahoo and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the same details regarding the list of teams. The reports say Kaepernick's camp was promised a list of attendees before the event, but the NFL is denying promising that information.

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As a guest on "The Greg Hill Show" Thursday morning, Schefter provided his personal thoughts on the workout. The hosts made reference to the workout, joking about who the Patriots were sending and Schefter responded, "If that workout even happens."

When pressed on it, Schefter was careful with his words saying, "I'm skeptical, I'll say that. We'll see." He added nothing new has happened recently to make him feel that way, saying he's been "skeptical all along."

The ESPN reporter added a few more thoughts on "Get Up."

"You're assuming that he has the workout Saturday," Schefter said. "No, that's not a done deal."

Even though the event was scheduled on very short notice, a few teams have publicly (while others have been reported) confirmed they're sending someone to attend. Teams reportedly include the Falcons, Bengals, Cowboys, Broncos, Lions, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Buccaneers and Redskins. The Browns are not planning to send representation, according to ESPN's Josina Anderson.

Yahoo's report also confirmed a team will not be attending because if they wanted to sign him, they'd hold their own private workout. Yahoo did not list which team.

There's also another reason why Kaepernick may not feel like attending:

At the end he mentions he "can’t wait to see the head coaches and [general managers]."

According to ESPN's Dan Graziano the people attending are "more likely to be scouts or personnel executives." Graziano adds it's "extremely unlikely that any head coach or GM whose team plays on Sunday or Monday will make the trip."

Schefter's report from Wednesday night also pointed out, "although multiple teams have confirmed that they will attend the workout, none has identified by name who will be going." Schefter also added: "Several high-level NFL executives reached out as a courtesy to Kaepernick's representatives to say they couldn't attend and were caught off-guard and confused by the purpose of the NFL scheduling the workout."

When you combine that with Kapernick's reported frustration over not receiving an attendees list, it suggests that Kaepernick doesn't want to work out for a bunch of nobodies. If no one of importance is going to attend this event, then the question can be asked as to who this event is actually for.

From Schefter:

When Kaepernick's representatives asked whether a team or teams had asked for the workout, the NFL league office said, "We can't tell you that," the reps explained.

Because of the mystery around the workout and because none of the teams had been informed before Tuesday, Kaepernick's representatives began to question the legitimacy of the workout and the process and wonder whether it was a public-relations stunt by the league, sources previously told ESPN. 

It seems obvious, at the very least, there was a lot of frustration from Kaepernick's camp on Wednesday night. There haven't been any more significant updates on Thursday, so Kaepernick dropping out appears to still be a possibility. As of now, however, no such decision has been made.

Jordan Heck

Jordan Heck Photo

Jordan Heck is a Social Media Producer at Sporting News. Before working here, he was a Digital Content Producer at The Indianapolis Star. He graduated with a degree from Indiana University.