By Bob Condotta
The Seattle Times
Yes, it appears the Seahawks are doing their due diligence when it comes to Colin Kaepernick’s Saturday workout for NFL teams in Atlanta, arranged this week by the league.
The Seahawks were not mentioned on a list of 11 teams sent out by the NFL on Thursday as expected to have representatives there.
But a report from ESPN’s Brady Henderson on Thursday stated that a source said the Seahawks will have “a representative” in attendance.
That’s not a surprise because the league is said to be encouraging all teams to have someone attend and the Seahawks have an oft-stated policy of always checking out anything they think might help.
The league set up Kaepernick’s workout this week as an apparent attempt to ease his entry back into the NFL — he has not been on a roster since the end of the 2016 season, when he first sat, then kneeled, during the national anthem while playing for the San Francisco 49ers to bring light to social justice issues such as police brutality against people of color.
USA Today reported Thursday that rapper/entertainment mogul Jay-Z helped push the idea of the workout to commissioner Roger Goodell. Jay-Z was hired in August to oversee the league’s entertainment and social justice efforts.
The league’s hope that all teams will be represented means that a team’s presence is not necessarily a sign of immediate interest in Kaepernick, who is now 32. All teams will also be provided with video of the workout and interview.
There are thought to be teams with more immediate quarterback needs than Seattle that may be interested in Kaepernick.
Seattle is obviously set at starter with Russell Wilson. The Seahawks also have the most veteran backup they’ve had since 2015, former Jets starter Geno Smith, who has yet to play a down this season.
The Seahawks are, so far, the only team to have brought Kaepernick in for a workout since the end of his 49ers days, doing so in the spring of 2017.
At the time, the Seahawks were exploring backup QB options after going with rookie Trevone Boykin in 2016, when Wilson suffered three notable injures.
Wilson didn’t miss any games, and only one snap, but the thought at the time was that Seattle might want a more experienced backup, and that they might have sat Wilson for a game had they had one in 2016.
But coach Pete Carroll said after Kaepernick’s workout that one reason the Seahawks didn’t sign him is that Kaepernick deserved a chance to start, something that wouldn’t happen in Seattle.
“He’s a starter in this league, and I can’t imagine — we have a starter,” Carroll said in 2017. “But he’s a starter in this league, and I can’t imagine somebody won’t give him a chance to play.”
Seattle again sought out Kaepernick in 2018 after having to release Boykin after he fell into more legal issues, talking to Kaepernick about coming in for another workout.
But those plans were waylaid for reasons that differed somewhat depending on who was talking.
Initial reports stated that the workout was postponed when Kaepernick wouldn’t commit to standing for the anthem.
But a source at that time told the Times that the Seahawks asked Kaepernick what his plans would be for his off-field activities if he were to play football in 2018 and that Kaepernick said he didn’t know. The Seahawks were said to want a firmer plan from Kaepernick about all of his off-field activities — including but not solely limited to kneeling for the anthem — and how that might impact football.
The workout was never held, and the Seahawks ended up trading for Brett Hundley to be the backup in 2018, and this year they signed both Paxton Lynch and Smith to battle for the job in training camp, with Smith winning the position.
Carroll and Seahawks general manager John Schneider were also deposed in the spring of 2018 as part of Kaepernick’s suit against the NFL, alleging that collusion led to him going unsigned.
