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Colin Kaepernick Shows Up At An Atlanta High School For His Own Workout
Colin Kaepernick’s highly-anticipated workout with the NFL didn’t exactly go as planned this weekend.
Representatives for the quarterback called an audible less than an hour before he was scheduled to work out for 25 NFL teams on Saturday, which is when they moved the session to a high school football field in Riverdale, 60 miles away from the Atlanta Falcons training facility.
While there, Kap threw passes for about 40 minutes to several free agent receivers including Bruce Ellington, Brice Butler, Jordan Veasy and Ari Werts. Later on, he signed autographs for hundreds of fans that had gathered in the end zone of the high school field.
“I’ve been ready for three years. I’ve been denied for three years,” the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback told reporters at his practice. “We are waiting for the 32 owners, 32 teams and [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell to stop running. Stop running from the truth, stop running from the people.”
Though the relocated workout was pushed back an hour–presumably to give NFL scouts some time to make their way to the new location–a number of scouts had already gone inside the Falcons’ facility when word of the change went public. According to a statement tweeted by Schefter, Kaepernick’s representatives said the change in location was to facilitate “a transparent and open process.”
“From the outset, Mr. Kaepernick requested a legitimate process and from the outset the NFL league office has not provided one,” Ben Meiselas and Jeff Nalley wrote in the statement. “Most recently, the NFL has demanded that as a precondition to the workout, Mr. Kaepernick sign an unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues and rejected the standard liability waiver from physical injury proposed by Mr. Kaepernick’s representatives.”
“Additionally, Mr. Kaepernick requested all media be allowed into the workout to observe and film it and for an independent film crew to be there to ensure transparency,” the statement continued. “The NFL denied this request. Based on the prior conduct by the league office, Mr. Kaepernick simply asks for a transparent and open process which is why a new location has been selected for today. Mr. Kaepernick looks forward to seeing the representatives from the clubs today.”
As for the NFL, they issued a statement on Saturday evening saying it was “disappointed that Colin did not appear for his workout,” also adding that the league was informed of the switch at the same time the general public was. The league went on to claim that it had sent Kap’s reps “a standard liability waiver” on Wednesday, only for the quarterback’s team to send “a completely rewritten and insufficient waiver” back to them at noon on Saturday.
Check out photos from Kap’s practice at Charles Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia down below:
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