SEATTLE — Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016. The Seahawks are the only team to have hosted him on a visit since then, in May 2017. But that was just a meeting, not a workout, which is what the free-agent quarterback has been hoping to receive.
On Wednesday, he held one of his own in the Seahawks’ backyard.
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Kaepernick spent roughly 90 minutes throwing to a handful of pass catchers, including Seahawks receiver Aaron Fuller, at the University of Washington’s indoor practice facility, which is approximately 45 minutes away from Seahawks headquarters. Kaepernick has been traveling across the country holding impromptu throwing sessions with different wideouts since mid-March. He threw with Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett (and his younger brother, Sterling) in Arizona and has since held similar sessions in Texas and New Orleans. He’s been posting footage of the workouts online in hopes of garnering enough interest from an NFL team to bring him in for a workout.
The workout Wednesday morning was coordinated by Fuller, who starred at Washington before signing with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2020. Fuller for the past two seasons has shared a receiver room with Lockett, who accepted Kaepernick’s open workout invitation and had a training session with the free-agent quarterback in Scottsdale on March 14. Fuller reached out to Kaepernick through social media Tuesday evening and by midnight Kaepernick and his team had landed in Seattle. UW running back Kamari Pleasant was also part of the session, along with two other local receivers.
Kaepernick recently spoke with Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of bringing the 34-year-old quarterback in for a tryout.
“We’ll see,” Carroll said on March 16.
“Still waiting for that chance,” Kaepernick said with a wide grin when asked Wednesday about potentially auditioning for the Seahawks in person. “Still hopeful. There’s been a lot of conversation around it. We’ve had conversations with Pete and John (Schneider) previously. As Pete mentioned, we’ve spoken recently and still hoping that door is open and get a chance to walk through it.”
Colin Kaepernick had a throwing session in Seattle today with UW running back Kamari Pleasant and #Seahawks WR Aaron Fuller.
Here’s a few red zone throws. And a deep ball. pic.twitter.com/WC6SPr4MzJ
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) March 23, 2022
In 2016, Kaepernick protested racism and injustice by kneeling during the national anthem of San Francisco’s games. He opted out of his 49ers contract to become a free agent at the end of the season, and went unsigned. The Seahawks have been most often linked to him since then, bringing him in for a visit in 2017, then scheduling a workout in April 2018 that was later canceled. Seattle in November 2019 sent a staffer to watch Kaepernick’s workout in Georgia, but the staffer never made it after the location was changed the day of the event. Carroll said he reviewed some of the footage Kaepernick’s representatives sent out to NFL teams.
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Kaepernick said the feedback from teams on his recent string of workouts has been positive. Before the workout with Lockett, Kaepernick had only thrown to his trainer Josh Hidalgo the past five years. He posted an open invite on social media on March 13 to try and link up with pro wideouts.
Kaepernick said NFL teams with which his agent has spoken said his workouts “look good.”
“My arm is still alive, still ready to go,” he said. “More than anything, we’re looking for that opportunity to get some work in and show them what I can do. We want that opportunity to showcase where I’m at and let decisions be made from there.”
Lockett after working out with Kaepernick tweeted, “That man Kap is ready.” Fuller had a similar assessment on Wednesday. The throwing session began with quick slants against press-man coverage, then moved to outside hitch routes and in-breaking routes against zone. They worked on post patterns over the middle of the field, corner routes to the sideline, speed outs and finished the session with red-zone work: goal-line fades, in-breakers and some throws over the middle near the back of the end zone.
“Kap’s still got an arm,” said Fuller, who has spent the past two seasons on Seattle’s practice squad. “Any NFL team that needs a quarterback, he’s ready. His arm is still there. There’s no rust. His footwork, his arm (is ready).”
One of the other receivers from the session said Kaepernick’s passes were “coming out like a rocket.”
Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since he completed 17 of 22 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Seahawks in Week 17 of the 2016 season. After meeting with Kaepernick in 2017, Carroll said Seattle didn’t attempt to sign him because “he’s a starter in this league, and we have a starter.” Seattle never discussed a potential salary nor was an informal or formal contract offer made. Carroll’s “starter” comment was in reference to Russell Wilson, who has since recently been traded to the Broncos in exchange for a haul of draft picks and players, quarterback Drew Lock among them. In June 2020, Carroll implied that the Seahawks were uninterested in signing Kaepernick as a backup because he liked what they had in Geno Smith.
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Carroll and Schneider have been effusive in their praise of Lock. They believe that if he plays the way he did during a five-game stint as a rookie in 2019, he’s capable of leading Seattle to a title. But their faith in Lock hasn’t dissuaded the Seahawks from exploring other options at quarterback, whether that’s Deshaun Watson or Baker Mayfield. Seattle quarterbacks coach Dave Canales recently attended pro days for Liberty’s Malik Willis and Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett.
Carroll would also like to re-sign Smith, who was Wilson’s backup the past three years. Now a free agent, Smith in 2021 started three games in Wilson’s absence and posted a 1-2 record, the lone victory coming against the Jaguars in Week 8. If Smith is re-signed, Carroll said, he’ll be the front-runner in the quarterback competition because he has the deepest knowledge of the Seahawks’ system. Former UW star Jacob Eason is the only other quarterback on Seattle’s roster.
As for Kaepernick, Carroll still isn’t ruling out a potential signing.
“We’re watching him,” Carroll said Tuesday afternoon on 950 KJR-AM. “He’s been working out and doing a lot of good things, trying to get prepared for an opportunity here. It’s amazing he’s stayed with it all these years. Shows you his resolve to try and prove that he can play.”
Some more throws from Colin Kaepernick’s workout in Seattle. pic.twitter.com/6z0KGudWSo
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) March 23, 2022
Fuller, who is on a futures deal, said he still trains at Seattle’s practice facility and is in constant contact with the coaching staff. A few coaches got wind of his workout and asked the third-year wideout to give them feedback about how Kaepernick looks. He said Carroll and Schneider were not aware of the workout.
“I’ll put something in their ear,” Fuller said. “T-Lock did a little bit, too. They kind of knew I was coming out here to throw with him, they wanted me to see how he was and his ability to still throw the ball and move around. I’ll put a good word in.”
Asked what inspired the decision to reach out to Kaepernick, Fuller said: “Why not? I need the work; he needs the work. Obviously, Russ is gone so I needed a quarterback to catch from. Good opportunity.”
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NFL teams may be concerned that Kaepernick, because he’s been away from the game for five years, is either too rusty or no longer in good-enough physical condition to make a return to the league. One way to confirm or deny that notion, Kaepernick said, would be to test the theory in person.
“The best way to tell is to bring me in for a workout,” Kaepernick said. “We have no expectations of what teams will do, we just want the opportunity to walk in the door and show them what I can do. My talent and my skill set will speak for itself.”
(2019 photo: Austin McAfee / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
