The New York Jets and Giants are two of the 11 teams that are going to attend Colin Kaepernick’s highly-publicized workout.
It’s been three years since Colin Kaepernick stepped foot on an NFL field. After Kaepernick sparked controversy over players kneeling during the National Anthem, he has been absent from the game.
Kaepernick is getting the chance to make a comeback on Saturday. (At least that’s the narrative.) The NFL is holding a closed workout in Atlanta for the QB.
On Thursday, Adam Schefter of ESPN released a list of 11 teams that will be attending the workout.
NFL said 11 teams — Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Miami, New England, NY Giants, NY Jets, Tampa Bay, Washington — already have committed to attend the Saturday workout that the league scheduled for Colin Kaepernick, “and it’s only Thursday”, per the league.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 14, 2019
It makes total sense for the Jets to be there. They are in desperate need of a competent backup QB. David Fales is currently the team’s backup. If something happened to Sam Darnold, again, the Jets would be in deep trouble, again.
The Jets are also not one to shy away from controversy. In fact, Jets CEO Chris Johnson backed his players during the player kneeling controversy. He went as far as to say that he would pay player’s fines if they decided to kneel during the national anthem.
So it should come as no surprise that the Jets are attending the workout. What is surprising is to see that the Giants are attending.
The Giants tend to avoid players who cause controversy or put them on the back page of the paper for non-football reasons. On top of that, the Giants are already carrying three QBs.
Two of which the franchise thinks very highly of, rookie Daniel Jones and face of the franchise Eli Manning. They don’t seem to need a backup QB on the roster, so it wouldn’t seem to make much football sense either.
One train of thought is that the Giants are interested in bringing in Kaepernick to groom him to be Jones’s backup. Perhaps they’re looking at a 2020 plan. Or maybe they’re just grabbing a quick glance at Kaepernick.
Whatever you’re feelings on Colin Kaepernick are, there is no denying the talent he displayed when he was last on the field. The real question is whether or not he’s lost a step. Even if he has, he could still prove to be a viable backup for a QB-needy team like the Jets.
