Josh McDaniels enters the 2022-23 season in his second stint as a head coach, and he’s already showing how much he has learned working under New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Colin Kaepernick, 34, worked out with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday. Reports from the workout said it went well for the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback. Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016, when he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.
McDaniels took a Belichick approach when discussing the workout Thursday.
“Just a standard procedure, we will only talk about the people who are on our team,” McDaniels told reporters, via ESPN’s Brady Henderson. “(General manager Dave Ziegler) and his staff have worked out tons of guys this spring, and we really don’t make comments about the evaluations that we made or what they looked like, what they didn’t look like, strengths and weaknesses, those kinds of things are kind of private obviously for us as we look at things to try to make decisions to make the team better.
“If players are added to the team then obviously we’ll talk about them at that point. I respect the question 100 percent. I understand. But it’s kind of what we’ll stick to.”
Derek Carr, 31, is the current starter for the Raiders and signed a massive contract extension in the offseason. Behind Carr on the quarterback depth chart is recent trade acquisition Jarrett Stidham, free-agent signing Nick Mullens and undrafted rookie Chase Garbers. McDaniels did not inform his quarterback of Kaepernick’s workout ahead of time.
“I think he knows this is his football team, and he’s working like it on the field, and he’s leading the way that we want him to lead and he’s doing all the right things,” McDaniels said. “I couldn’t ask more from Derek Carr and very pleased with what he’s doing so far.”
Whether Kaepernick signs with the Raiders or works out for another team is up in the air, but the door has been opened for Kaepernick to return to the NFL.
