Source: Jaime Crawford / Getty
Colin Kaepernick‘s path to return to the NFL continues to get clearer.
The quarterback worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders on Wendesday, according to ESPN.
The workout marked the first time Kaep has done so since getting blacklisted in 2016 for kneeling during the national anthem while protesting racial inequality across the United States. During the offseason in 2017, he met with the Seahawks, who eventually decided not to add him to the roster.
His most recent meeting with the NFL came when he threw in front of scouts in early April during halftime at a University of Michigan spring game after being named an Honorary Captain.
Kaep working out for the Raiders makes sense, as team owner Mark Davis’ dad broke barriers in the league by hiring its first Black head coach in Art Shell, as well as the first team owner to draft a Black quarterback with Eldridge Dickey in 1968 NFL/AFL Draft.
Less than a month ago, Davis said that he’d like Kaepernick to try out as long as the rest of the team’s coaches and GMs were on board.
“He deserves every chance in the world to become a quarterback in the National Football League. I still stand by it. If our coaches and general manager want to bring him in or want him to be the quarterback on this team, I would welcome him with open arms.”
The 34-year-old knows that getting back into the league will take a lot of hard work, and he doesn’t mind being a backup QB, despite that not being his ultimate goal. That determination would be needed in Vegas, with Derek Carr being cemented as the first-string QB as he battles it out with the other signal-callers Jarrett Stidham, Nick Mullens, and Chase Garbers.
“I know I have to find my way back in. So if I have to come in as a backup, that’s fine,” Kaepernick told the I Am Athlete podcast. “But that’s not where I’m staying. And when I prove that I’m a starter, I want to be able to step on the field as such.”
