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The NFL planned to host free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick for a workout at the Atlanta Falcons practice facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia. They wanted to provide him with the opportunity to show the league's 32 teams that he is ready to contribute to a team.
So why did Kaepernick move the location of his workout less than an hour before it was supposed to begin? According to Howard Bryant of ESPN, there is a lot of nuance to the situation. Kaepernick and the NFL officials were described as having an ‘already shaky relationship' and that the original arrangement was ‘immediately in jeopardy.'
https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/1195833632755200001?s=20
Part of the issue was the fact that the NFL arranged the workout for Kaepernick on short notice. It is customary for workouts to take place on Tuesdays as opposed to Saturdays. The rationale behind that is simply timing. Having a workout the day before most teams are playing a regular-season game makes it unlikely for high ranking officials from teams to attend.
https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/1195833653105958914?s=20
There was a dispute over allowing the media to have access to the workout and it was unclear who the receiver would be either. That prompted Kaepernick to fly in his own receivers but the NFL did not pay for it. Not only did the league not allow the media to be at the workout, but they also weren't even going to allow him to record it.
https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/1195833655295385600?s=20
There was a lack of trust from Kaepernick's team that the NFL would put produce the footage of the workout in a ‘flattering' manner. There was a fear that the video would be cut down from the 60 total passes down to just a reel of his worst throws, which ultimately led to Kaepernick and his team to come up with a backup plan.
https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/1195833657589686272?s=20
There wasn't a resolution for the concerns that Kaepernick and his team had even on the morning of the workout. They formally requested the NFL to reconsider and threatened to hold their own workout if they failed to accommodate their desired conditions.
https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/1195833659711987713?s=20
The situation between Kaepernick and the NFL has been strange dating back to when he first kneeled for the national anthem. The way that the arrangement for a workout to ‘assist' his comeback efforts played out only further adds complication to the relationship for both sides.
There is clearly a lack of trust from Colin Kaepernick's perspective and the NFL is seemingly not doing themselves any favors in the way they are conducting themselves. It seems that we are long removed from a resolution.
