Well Colin Kaepernick finally had his workout or tryout or whatever you want to call it this past Saturday and of course there was quite a bit of controversy that came along with it.
The NFL had Kaepernick’s workout scheduled to take place at the Atlanta Falcons facility and 25 teams where expected to attend. Kaepernick and his representatives had other ideas as they moved the workout 60 miles away to a high school.
There reasoning for this apparently was they wanted to tape the workout themselves and the NFL wasn’t going to allow them to tape it. Now I can understand that there is quite a bit of distrust between these two parties, but did Kaepernick and his group really think the NFL would edit is workout tape to make him look bad. There where going to be 25 teams there; would they all agree to what the NFL was going to say or alter about his workout?
The other complaint that Kaepernick and his group had was who he’d be throwing to. It seemed as though the NFL was just going to bring in more or less any available former receivers they could get. Kaepernick and his group wanted him to throw to receivers that he was use to working with. I don’t think this would’ve made much of a difference, but anything to complain about; I guess.
From all reports Kaepernick looked good in the workout. He showed good mobility and good arm strength during the workout, but with the late move of his workout the number of teams he ended up working out for dropped from 25 to 6.
As of now Kaepernick hasn’t been signed by an NFL team and I’d be surprised if he is. Right now there’s no real reason for a team to bring in what you have to remember is a back up quarterback unless there’s some kind of long term injury. I think if he’s going to be signed it will be in the off season when a team will have an easier time letting him adjust to their offense.
Now in my honest opinion I don’t think that Kaepernick is planning on signing with any NFL team. I just don’t think that he wants to play in the NFL. It seemed like this workout was more of a way for him to get his name back at the top of the news cycle and now if he’s not signed he can continue to play the role of the player who was black balled.
There was also a rumor out there that this was all doe for a Nike commercial. Now this rumor quickly came and went, but would you be surprised if you saw clips of this Kaepernick’s workout in a Nike commercial?
People seem to forget that we’re taking about a quarterback that just lost his starting job and that’s always going to make people wonder if that hadn’t happened would Kaepernick have went down this road.
I want to remind you that we’re taking about a guy who’d be a back up quarterback if he’s ever signed. It’s not like Kaepernick is going to sign with a team and take them to a Super Bowl championship. He’s a back up quarterback and it’s going to be difficult for a team to sign a back up quarterback that craves the spotlight.
Don’t get me wrong Kaepernick does have talent and would be one of the better back up quarterbacks in the NFL, but at 33 years old; he’ll turn that on November 3rd you have to wonder if he’s worth the gamble.
While teams look high and low for back up quarterbacks and that includes contacting former players who are now ESPN analysts, but will one of them take a chance on Kaepernick. So far the answer is no, but with this workout getting his name back into the mainstream media will have to see if it generates a buzz.
Would you like to see you favorite NFL team sign Colin Kaepernick?
With the exception of trying to re-sign Josh Donaldson everyone seems to think that the Atlanta Braves needed to address their bullpen this off season. It appears that the Braves where thinking the same thing as they’ve made their second signing of a reliever in two weeks.
Last week the Braves announced the signing of Will Smith to a 3 year $40 million dollar deal. Smith was the San Francisco Giants closer last season. He appeared in 63 games and posted a 6-0 record with an ERA of 2.76 while recording 34 saves.
Yesterday the Braves announced the signing of relief pitcher Chris Martin to a 2 year $14 million dollar deal. The Braves acquired Martin from the Texas Rangers on July 30th of last season for Kolby Allard a 22 year old left handed pitching prospect. Martin was solid with the Rangers, but had some struggles with Atlanta. He appeared in 38 games for the Rangers going 0-2 with an ERA of 3.08 and picking up 4 saves. For the Braves he appeared in 20 games going 1-1, but his ERA was a run higher at 4.08.
The Braves have also brought back veteran set up man Darren O’Day. Atlanta gave O’Day a 1 year $2.25 million dollar deal early in the signing period. O’Day is 37 years and spent 7 of his 12 major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. O’Day pitched in just 8 games for the Braves last season due to injury, but has good career numbers as a set up guy.
With these three signing and the additions of Shane Greene and Mark Melancon at last seasons trade deadline the Braves bullpen has a whole new look coming into spring training. With only a couple of bullpen spots open and a host of young pitching prospects it will be interesting to see how and who Atlanta fills out their bullpen with.
What do you think of the Braves early signings?
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