Only the Las Vegas Raiders know if Colin Kaepernick is still good enough to play quarterback in the NFL.
Kaepernick tested the Raiders on Wednesday. It was his first legitimate test in years. He hasn’t appeared in any games since the 2016 season, when he started 11 games with a San Francisco team with two wins.
It was cut in early 2017 and hasn’t aroused much interest since, at least in part because of his decision to kneel during the national anthem play that season.
Is he still 34 years old? The Raiders don’t say that.
“We’ll just talk about the people on our team,” said coach Josh McDaniels, echoing an old New England Patriots policy, where McDaniels has twice served as Bill Belichick’s right-hand man. “… We don’t really comment on the assessments we made or how they looked, what they didn’t look like, strengths and weaknesses, that sort of thing.”
That makes sense. Why provide an evaluation for a player who is still free to sign elsewhere right now?
That’s not to say Kaepernick didn’t answer some questions Wednesday, some of them persistent and some of them perhaps significant in his quest to get back to playing football.
The first is that he really wants to go back to the NFL. Right or wrong, there was a perception among some in the league that Kaepernick was happy with his life after football and even though he often said he wanted to keep playing, his motivation was not complete.
NFL teams, at least in part because of their political activism, had expressed little interest in trying it out.
Colin Kaepernick has not been an effective quarterback in his last few seasons in the NFL, so there is still a lot of skepticism about his ability. But his desire should no longer be questioned. (Photo by Harry How / Getty Images)
Kaepernick’s last days in San Francisco were a far cry from his 2012 and 2013 highs, when he led the 49ers to the playoffs. Never a big passenger, his game was based on his ability to run. As this began to fade, so did his overall game. His last two seasons he was unable to complete 60 percent of his passes and needed a lot of surgeries.
However, given the annual parade of average quarterbacks to fit in each week, and even starting due to an injury at the end of the season, there was no doubt that his exclusion from the league was not based solely on in performance.
The story goes on
Still, Kaepernick couldn’t convince anyone to give him a chance, and the concept that he “didn’t really want to play” became an easy way out for NFL teams.
This was especially pronounced on November 12, 2019, when the NFL organized a training session for him in front of any team that wanted to send a representative.
Kaepernick withdrew from the Atlanta session just 30 minutes earlier, expressing concern that it was closed to the public and a resignation that the NFL wanted him to sign. He then moved it to a different part of the city, with his own camera equipment in tow.
Even if Kaepernick’s worries were legitimate, when you’re looking for a job, it’s the employer who has the cards. As long as nothing illegal is requested, they usually have to do whatever they want. If they want you to wear a dress, you wear a dress. Maybe if you have enough talent, it doesn’t matter. Kaepernick no longer did.
The test was a disaster. Kaepernick did attempt a finish, but from an awkward position, sending the ball into the away fans. Some in the league saw it as an unserious advertising gesture of a type with whom it seemed difficult to work. Again, who knows if that’s true, but that’s how the NFL took it.
Well, maybe he really wants to play. Maybe he always did. Or maybe things have changed. Be that as it may, training with the Raiders was typical of how the system works. That alone should turn a few heads in the NFL. Or at least grab an excuse to ignore him from the table.
Kaepernick also seems quite willing to be a backup. Sure, he’d like to start. But all players should want this. His willingness to try out in Las Vegas suggests that he is not expecting a secure job.
Derek Carr is the headline rooted in Las Vegas. The three-time Pro Bowler has not missed a game since 2017 and took the Raiders to the playoffs a season ago. In April it signed a three-year extension worth up to $ 121.5 million.
Kaepernick knew all this. He knew that except for some almost miraculous training camp (if he even signs), the Raiders were interested in him as a support.
He tried it anyway.
If nothing else, maybe some other poor quarterback team sees it with a new light. Or maybe someone decides to take a second look at a guy who could still bring a talented pop to the list.
Maybe Vegas tab. Or maybe he has another test somewhere else.
All of this is a long way from Kaepernick’s return to the NFL, but no matter what happened during the game, Wednesday was still a potentially significant day for the quarterback.