Colin Kaepernick’s long road back to the N.F.L. has hit another snag.
The N.F.L. has declined to provide Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, with a list of who will attend a workout that the league scheduled for him on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity.
Kaepernick asked for the list on Tuesday after the league contacted his agent to offer him a chance to work out in front of representatives from N.F.L. teams, and the person familiar with the discussions said the league promised to provide the information.
A league employee, who requested anonymity, said on Wednesday that the N.F.L. had never promised to send Kaepernick a list of people who would attend the workout but that multiple clubs would be there. The league has not specified whether the representatives will be people with influence over team rosters.
Kaepernick also asked that the tryout be moved from Saturday to a Tuesday, when most teams hold auditions for free agent players, or to another Saturday. Those requests were rebuffed, according to the person familiar with the discussions.
Kaepernick, who has not played since the 2016 season, wants to ensure the tryout is legitimate and not a publicity stunt, the person said. Kaepernick’s representatives were notified of the tryout on Tuesday morning and were given two hours to respond. Later on Tuesday, N.F.L. owners and team presidents were sent an email inviting them to attend.
Kaepernick, who helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season, has not had a tryout with an N.F.L. team since he became a free agent in the spring of 2017. During his final season with the 49ers, he knelt through the playing of the national anthem to protest police violence against African-Americans. In October 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league, accusing its 32 teams of blackballing him because of his political expression.
The league reached an undisclosed settlement with Kaepernick in February.
Since then, Kaepernick, 32, has posted videos on social media showing himself working out. The tryout is scheduled for the Atlanta Falcons’ training facility in Flowery Branch, Ga.
It is unclear how many teams will send representatives or how high-ranking the representatives will be. Many teams travel on Saturdays for road games to be played on Sunday.
Other teams may think they already have enough quarterbacks. According to news media reports, coaches and officials from several teams — including the Falcons, the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos — have said they plan to send a representative.
Clark Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, told reporters on Wednesday that he had learned of the tryout only on Tuesday by email. He said he expected Brett Veach, the team’s general manager, to send someone from his staff to the tryout even though the Chiefs have four quarterbacks on their roster.
Veach “likes to turn over every stone,” Hunt said.
Source: Football - nytimes.com
