Colin Kaepernick listed as 'retired,' then 'UFA' on NFL's site

Tom Gatto

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Colin Kaepernick listed as 'retired,' then 'UFA' on NFL's site image

Colin Kaepernick's NFL "retirement" didn't last very long. In fact, according to the quarterback's girlfriend, it never happened.

And now the site where that information was listed appears to agree with her.

The intrigue started Friday night when Nessa Dab, Kaepernick's longtime girlfriend, tweeted her anger over Kaepnerick being listed as retired on his NFL.com player page. It appears she was tipped off by another user. 

Users replying to her post, in addition to staking out their usual uncharitable positions on Kaepernick, claimed the site regularly lists players who have been inactive a long time as retired even if they've never announced their retirement. Tim Tebow got a shout as an example.

Later Friday, Kaepernick was listed as "UFA/San Francisco 49ers" (unrestricted free agent) on this NFL.com player page. ProFootballTalk.com noted the site was recently redesigned; are there multiple cached/beta versions of the page live on the internet? Or was the player page just updated?

MORE: Alex Smith says it's so 'absurd' Kaepernick doesn't have NFL job

Interestingly, Kaepernick can't be searched as retired or active in the site's main player section. There's no "UFA" button.

Kaepernick, 32, has not played in the NFL since late in the 2016 season. A workout scheduled by the NFL for last November in Georgia failed to attract interest from teams, and the both the league and Kaepernick were criticized for how they handled the event. 

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.