Warren Sapp, who played for the Raiders for the final four seasons of his Hall of Fame career, was asked in an interview with Vlad TV this week if he believes Kaepernick will play in the NFL again. He responded with an emphatic “no” and said he was told Kaepernick’s workout with the Raiders was a “disaster.”
“I heard it was a disaster. I heard it was one of the worst workouts ever,” Sapp said. “I’m wondering how the hell this happened and the tape didn’t get out. Somebody wasn’t (recording a video) over the fence or something? Come on, man. We live in a world now where you put a drone up and nobody’s gonna stop you.”
Kaepernick is 34 and has not played in the NFL since 2016. Even when he did play, his strength was his mobility and athleticism. He was never a great passer, which is why many are skeptical that he could take that much time off and expect to be effective.
There were supposedly two things that impressed the Raiders during Kaepernick’s workout. They were not blown away enough to offer him an invitation to camp, however. Maybe Sapp knows something most of us don’t.
Unless you’re a kicker, I would imagine that it’s damn near impossible to be out of the league for 6 years and still be able to compete with professional athletes. [Reply]
The following players are listed by Pro Football Reference as having a similar "quality and shape of career" after 6 years:
Let's remove from comparison players from different eras: Charlie Johnson, Brian Sipe, John Hadl, Terry Bradshaw, Don Meredith, Doug Williams, and Tommy Kramer. If anyone thinks all of these players should be considered as comparisons to Kaepernick, let me know.
That leaves:
Marcus Mariotta, similar after 6, has played for 7 and is under contract for year 8 in 2022.
Carson Wentz, similar after 6, while he is not a star, no one thinks he should not be under contract for his 7th year.
Blake Bortles, similar after 6, but was under contract for 8.He could still be under contract for his 9th year in 2022.
Now let's expand to QBs with similar "quality and shape" for their entire careers. To Mariota, Wentz and Bortles we will now add Jay Fiedler (9 year career), Scott Mitchell (11 year career), Jameis Winston (7+ year career), David Carr(11 year career), Stan Humphries (9 year career), Elvis Grbac (8 year career), and Kyle Orton (10 year career).
It's absolutely clear that Kaepernick's performance was strong enough during his first 6 years to warrant being under contract during his 7th year. His case for being excluded from playing in the NFL in years since as a direct result of his decision to speak up against racial injustice is undisputable. It's your privilege to believe differently. [Reply]
