After five years of being shunned by the NFL, Colin Kaepernick was finally given an opportunity to try to make a return to the league on Wednesday when the Raiders brought him in for a workout.
Although Kaepernick doesn’t have a contract offer from anyone yet, it’s still very possible that he could end up returning to the NFL this year. For one, the Raiders were actually “impressed” by Kaepernick during the workout, according to NFL.com, which means there’s definitely a possibility that they could end up signing him.
If the Raiders decide to take a pass on Kaepernick, the quarterback might actually have a few other options. The workout invite from Las Vegas might have opened the floodgates for Kaepernick, who was apparently being eyed by multiple teams before agreeing to throw in front of the Raiders this week. According to Pro Football Talk, there were at least TWO other NFL teams showing interest in Kaepernick before he agreed to the Raiders workout.
Although we don’t know the identity of the two teams, we could soon find out. Based on how Kaepernick’s first workout went, it won’t be surprising if he gets invited to another one.
The fact that Kaepernick’s workout went well probably won’t come as a huge surprise to anyone who has worked out with him this offseason. Over the past few months, the former 49ers quarterback basically went on a national throwing tour and he seemed to impress everyone he crossed paths with, including multiple NFL players.
Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett caught passes from Kaepernick in March and said the QB is “ready” for an NFL return.
Bears QB Justin Fields also threw with Kaepernick this offseason and he came away impressed.
“That was actually my first time meeting him,” Fields said of their mid-March workout, via SI.com. “It was cool meeting him, of course. He’s an icon. It was awesome just to meet him and work with him. He looked pretty good. He looked good, yeah.”
More recently, 49ers rookie receiver Danny Gray was raving about Kaepernick. Gray worked out with Kaepernick in Dallas earlier this year and was blown away by what he saw.
“He has kind of like a bazooka” Gray said earlier this month. “That workout was pretty great.”
Basically, everyone who has seen Kaepernick throw this offseason, including the Raiders, has walked away impressed. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to land an NFL job, but it does mean that it won’t be surprising at all if we see him make a return to football after five years out of the league.
The quarterback hasn’t taken an NFL snap since the 49ers’ 2016 regular-season finale. During his time in San Francisco, Kaepernick thrived under Jim Harbaugh, going 25-14 as a starter while also leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 and the NFC Championship in 2013. However, he struggled after Harbaugh left, going just 3-16 with Jim Tomsula (2015) and Chip Kelly (2016). With the right coach, Kaepernick might be able to prove that he still has a lot left in the tank.
