Colin Kaepernick‘s private NFL workout is just days away, and some think it’s a stellar opportunity for him to show his current level of skills and conditioning. But others said the whole thing reeks of a PR stunt.
One person who holds that opinion is sports journalist Michael Silver, who took to Twitter on Wednesday to provide some new details about the workout.
On Tuesday it was announced that the NFL reserved Saturday, Nov. 16, for Kaepernick to do on-field drills and be interviewed. All of the league’s 32 teams were invited so they could assess his skill level and readiness to play. The workout will take place at the Atlanta Falcons’ training facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia, a northern suburb of Atlanta.
Kaepernick hasn’t played an NFL game since he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers after the 2016 season. He left the team after being surrounded in controversy for kneeling during the national anthem at games to protest racism and police brutality against black people.
In Silver’s Twitter messages, which contains some conjecture, he said Kaepernick was “caught off guard” by the scheduled workout and was given just two hours to accept or reject it. And he didn’t have any say on when or where it was going to take place.
“Ideally this workout would take place on a Tuesday (when most players are off, and coaches and GMs have more flexibility in their schedules), with a little more lead time to prepare,” wrote Silver. “Because it’s Saturday, most teams will likely send pro scouts or other talent evaluators without decision-making power.”
Silver also said that most players who show their skills to team representatives are given ample time to prepare, and a coach who they’re “comfortable” with ends up running the drill session.
Again, Kaepernick was just notified about the workout, and there’s no word on who will run things there. The sportswriter also said that teams all of a sudden showing interest in the quarterback seems disingenuous.
“If teams are interested enough to send employees to Atlanta to watch him on Saturday, why were so few of them motivated to bring him in for private workouts over the past 2 years, 8 months?” asked Silver.
Another person who shares the writer’s opinion is Kaepernick’s former teammate Eric Reid, who protested with the quarterback and filed a grievance against the NFL for allegedly shutting them out of the league for the protests.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Reid told reporters on Wednesday about the workout. “At this point, it feels like a PR stunt. What decision-makers are going to be able to attend a workout?”
It’s also been reported that Jay-Z had something to do with getting the NFL to set up Saturday’s workout, since he began working with the league on its social justice initiatives and entertainment back in August.
