NFL is giving Colin Kaepernick reasons to pull out of Saturday’s pro day
Less than 48 hours after offering to engineer a hastily scheduled and seemingly half-baked “pro day” workout for Colin Kaepernick, the NFL appears to have given the quarterback ample reason to pull out of the event.
Multiple sources familiar with the talks between Kaepernick and the NFL have told Yahoo Sports that several elements of the Saturday workout in Atlanta — which was proposed by the league under a two-hour deadline for a decision on Tuesday — are already running into significant issues. Chief among them, according to sources:
The NFL has refused to provide a confirmed list of team attendees before the event, allegedly breaking a verbal commitment between the two sides that was reached before Kaepernick agreed to the workout. The league has denied making such a guarantee and refused to give a reason for why the list will not be provided, sources said.
As of Wednesday evening, no defined throwing script was provided to Kaepernick, despite the event being less than three days away. There was also no indication from the league who Kaepernick would be throwing to. Under typical pro day circumstances, a quarterback is aware of the receivers and running backs he will be working with, as well as a defined structure of the program to suggest how many throws and routes will be expected during the workout.
As of Wednesday night, those were all critical issues weighing on the workout — potentially to the point that the event could still fall apart before Saturday. As it stands, a handful of teams have acknowledged publicly that they hope to send a representative to the pro day.
Thus far, those teams include the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins.
Interestingly, sources from two of those attending teams told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday that they were caught by surprise by the Kaepernick workout and were not advised on why the NFL scheduled it on a short-notice Saturday afternoon. One team source added that as of Wednesday afternoon, there was still no determination on who would attend the event for the franchise.
“We haven’t been told [why],” one team source said of the last-minute timing of the workout. “Other than that [invitation memo] and what is being said about it [in the media], I guess we’re all on the same track with whatever is happening. It’s not normal, but we’re just going with it.”
A third team — which will not be attending the workout — said that Kaepernick isn’t in its plans and that if he ever is, the franchise would prefer to set up a private workout rather than attending something orchestrated by the NFL.
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