Latest On Colin Kaepernick

If the league office really wants Colin Kaepernick to be employed, they have ways to make a team sign him, Mike Florio of PFT writes. Florio points to the league’s efforts to get Michael Sam, the league’s first openly gay draft pick, on to a practice squad three years ago. Ultimately, after making a number of calls, the Cowboys agreed to give Sam a gig.

The NFL has been known to make wink-wink deals with teams when they want to get something done, and the league could encourage a team to sign Kaepernick by promising a future chance to host the Super Bowl or an exemption from having to do HBO’s Hard Knocks or something similar. But, with the season opener rapidly closing in, it remains to be seen whether commissioner Roger Goodell will pull some strings to get Kaepernick a contract.

Here’s the latest on No. 7:

  • Mike Sando of ESPN.com spoke with a number of coaches and talent evaluators to try and get some insight on the Kaepernick situation. Multiple people indicated that they are unsure about Kaepernick’s commitment to football since they have not heard from him directly. “Everyone else is worried about him working, but I never hear him say how much he wants to work,” this voter said. “That hits a chord. People want to hear, ‘I want to work in the league, I want to work for you, I want to do this more than anything.’ It’s like with Tim Tebow — he’d rather be on the outside switching sports than be relegated to the [third team] and getting 20 percent of the reps.” Some also indicated that a similarly talented player playing a different position would have been signed by now. Kaepernick is left waiting, some say, because teams expect leadership from quarterbacks and there is fear that his personal agenda could come ahead of the team’s overall purpose.
  • There was a sizable rally outside of NFL headquarters this week in support of Kaepernick, but the commissioner informed the “United We Stand” coalition that he could not meet at this time (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson). Although the group was unable to have an audience with Goodell, the rally did succeed in generating a great deal of media attention. The buzz generated from the rally may put some additional pressure on the league office to find Kaepernick a team for 2017.
  • The NFLPA has been in contact with Kaepernick’s reps.
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