Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden said Tuesday he is “surprised” Colin Kaepernick is not signed to an NFL team and thinks some team will invite him to its training camp.
Gruden, speaking to reporters at the coaches breakfast portion of the NFL owners’ meetings, said Kaepernick’s performance “wasn’t very good on tape.”
“He got beat out by [Blaine] Gabbert to start the [2016] season. I think that says something,” Gruden said, but added, “I am surprised he’s not in camp with somebody. He probably will be soon.”
In 2016, Gabbert beat out Kaepernick for the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback job, but by season’s end Kaepernick had regained the starting role. At the start of the same season, Kaepernick began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games as a means of protesting police brutality against black men.
After Kaepernick opted out of his contract with San Francisco after 2016, he has been unable to find work in the NFL.
Kaepernick currently has a grievance filed against the NFL for allegations of collusion to keep him out of the league, and he recently sat in on a deposition of Houston Texans owner Bob McNair.
Gruden was the Raiders’ coach from 1998 to 2001 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coach from 2002 to 2008. He won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Bucs and spent the last 10 years as a broadcaster for ESPN before returning to Oakland.
The Raiders, for their part, have a sure starting quarterback in Derek Carr and three other players at the position behind him — E.J. Manuel, Josh Johnson and Connor Cook.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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