Colin Kaepernick spent nearly five hours with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday, exercising and meeting with coaches and team executives. When it was all over, two sources characterized the visit as a fruitful workout and an open line of communication as the Raiders continue to evaluate their quarterbacks for next season.
“It was a very normal workout,” a source said. “It was just a matter of evaluating a football player, of being face to face, of seeing his physical abilities. Like any other football training. “
Kaepernick was in “great” fitness and threw the ball with considerable arm strength, comparable to the balance of his six-year NFL career so far, sources said. He also had good meetings during his visit.
It is also clear that this was an initial assessment and nothing more is imminent as the team continues to evaluate and fine-tune the depth graph.
As it stands, the Raiders are ready as a starting quarterback with Derek Carr, who signed a $ 121.5 million three-year overtime this offseason. The team also acquired Jarrett Stidham of the New England Patriots, giving head coach Josh McDaniels a player in the boardroom who is familiar with the details of his offense. McDaniels was the Patriots’ offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2021.
The Raiders also signed veteran substitute Nick Mullens on a one-year deal, which includes nearly $ 700,000 in bonuses that will have been paid for the training camp.
These moves would weigh in on the consideration of a Kaepernick signing, which is why the most likely path is for Las Vegas to continue evaluating its current quarterbacks through the mandatory minicamp that will begin on June 7th. That’s not to say the Raiders can’t. or he will not carry Kaepernick on board, only that the reserve quarterback position is not in an extreme situation nor does he need bodies at this stage of the low season.
Sources described Colin Kaepernick’s training with the Raiders as fruitful, but head coach Josh McDaniels framed him on Thursday as one of the many ongoing assessments in the middle of the team’s low season. (Photo by AP / Todd Kirkland, file)
McDaniels declined to go into detail about the meeting with Kaepernick, framing it as one in multiple assessments and workouts that take place in a low season.
The story goes on
“We’re just going to talk about the people who are on our team,” McDaniels said Thursday. “[General manager Dave Ziegler] and its staff has worked tons of guys this spring. We don’t really comment on the assessments we’ve made or how they looked or what they didn’t look like – strengths and weaknesses, that sort of thing. Obviously, they are a bit private to us as we look at things to try and make decisions to improve the team. If players are added to the team, we will obviously talk about it at that time. “
The relatively unobtrusive training for the Raiders could also encourage some other teams to consider coaching Kaepernick as well, especially if they don’t like what they see during next month’s mini-camps. Two more teams were interested in working on Kaepernick ahead of their meeting with the Raiders, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported Thursday. There have been some indications of potential interest from other teams over the past two months, but training plans or meetings had not materialized, sources close to Kaepernick told Yahoo Sports.
It remains to be seen if that will change, but it is clear that Kaepernick’s camp will continue to try to find training opportunities in the coming days. Meanwhile, the Raiders have set their sights on him and answered some of his own questions. Wherever everything goes, anyone can guess.