Last month the NFL sanctioned and invited all thirty-two NFL teams to a mostly private workout for former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in Atlanta, Georgia in order to prove that there was no collusion against him.
Some people in attendance raved about Kaepernick’s shape and ability, but the fact that he remains unsigned indicates all you need to know about that. His attorney Mark Geragos claimed two teams with a need at quarterback were interested, but his aggressively optimistic lawyer has said as such before when ultimately nothing happened.
While it remains to be seen whether Kaepernick will ever play in the NFL again, one ESPN personality claims he was instrumental in a behind-the-scenes fashion in working with the NFL to get his private workout.
It’s become increasingly obvious over the last month that Colin Kaepernick and the NFL are through and the relationship between the two camps are so estranged from each other at this point that it’s outside of the purview of reality to consider anything else.
When the NFL invited all thirty-two teams to participate in Colin Kaepernick’s private workout they scheduled it on November 16th, which happens to land on a Saturday. That was a curiously suspicious date to hold a workout on because not only are most team executives – general managers and coaches – preparing for Sunday’s game, but workouts are usually scheduled on Tuesdays for the aforementioned reason.
It was enough to make eyebrows raise across the league and in the sports media realm. And Kaepernick’s camp likely balked – but accepted – and that’s why they tried to one-up the NFL with weird tactics on the day of the workout like rescheduling the event at a different field across town, while also bringing his personal wideouts.
Only seven teams were represented at the workout which included the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions. The Chiefs literally sent an intern to observe.
But now we’re learning that ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation were both instrumental in getting Kaepernick that workout.
Yes, that Stephen A. Smith. The highest paid “journalist” talking head on ESPN was behind-the-scenes like a puppet master pulling the strings? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?
Here is Smith admitting to it:
🚨 Stephen A. Smith says he and Jay-Z/Roc Nation were behind scenes getting @Kaepernick7 the NFL workout.
Smith says half the NFL owners were against it.
🎥: Matt_Barnes9’s IG… Matt says he will post the full video Thursday 🔥 pic.twitter.com/z4vc3gJ0CX
— Resist Programming 🛰 (@RzstProgramming) December 12, 2019
Other than the fact that half the owners said they didn’t want to participate (which actually turned out to be more than two-thirds that didn’t) but the fact that Smith claims he was influential in making that happen shows you just how much power he has over the NFL.
Smith just became the highest paid personality on ESPN because his ratings are through the roof on “First Take” and “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
However, the underlying narrative here isn’t his claim but the indication that the NFL and owners are still colluding against Kaepernick. There were a few videos of the workout released and he had a pretty fifty-yard bomb to one receiver in the end zone that looked impressive. On the flip side, there was an abysmal fifteen-yard out that was geriatric mechanics at best.
The owners aren’t interested in Kaepernick because the last time Kaepernick played in the NFL, he was abysmal. In three years without playing a single down is he supposed to have gotten any better? There’s zero chance in that.