Seven years after he last took an NFL snap, Colin Kaepernick believes he can still help a team in need of a quarterback — even if it means playing on the practice squad.
The former San Francisco 49ers signal-caller who exited the league in controversial fashion wrote a letter to the New York Jets last week requesting a chance to play quarterback for them, but with a twist.
Rather than lobby for the Jets’ starting quarterback job with the team struggling in the wake of the season-ending injury to star Aaron Rodgers, Kaepernick asked for an opportunity to be the team’s practice squad quarterback.
Practice squad players are not part of a team’s primary 53-man roster. They mostly serve as the scout team in practice, mimicking the schemes run by upcoming opponents to prepare the players on the main roster for the game. A player must be listed on a team’s 53-man roster in order to play in an NFL game.
Kaepernick sent a letter to Jets G.M. Joe Douglas last week. The letter was then leaked five days later, presumably after it failed to get Kaepernick an invitation to tryout for the team.
The premise was odd. Kaepernick volunteered to lead the practice squad in order to help the defense prepare each week. The request reflected a gross misunderstanding of how things work on an NFL team. The scout-team quarterback helps prepare the defense, and the scout-team quarterback is selected based on the skills of the next opponent’s quarterback.
Kaepernick, who last played in the NFL in 2016 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, assured Douglas that he "never retired or stopped training," adding that he's kept the same training schedule he's had for the last six years "in hopes that an opportunity will present itself."
Kaepernick's last snap in the NFL came on Jan. 1, 2017. He actually worked out for the Raiders in May of 2022, but nothing came of it. The same day this letter was released to the public, the Jets signed a veteran quarterback to their practice squad in Trevor Siemian, who played for the Cincinnati Bengals this preseason.
It remains to be seen if Kaepernick is on any NFL team's radar, but the case he made for himself is now available for everyone to read.
Read more
U.S. Open Cup final: Houston Dynamo vs. Inter Miami 2-1 Houston Dynamo vs. Inter Miami 2-1
Sarah H
Also on site :
- West Ham vs. Nottingham Forest: live streaming , Predictions and Lineups
- Match predictions: Leicester City v Ipswich Town - lineups & free online live stream
- Arsenal vs. Newcastle United - prediction, live stream Info. , lineups