Kansas City Chiefs will ignore Colin Kaepernick’s workout

The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to let Colin Kaepernick’s workout go by without sending any representatives from the team.

On the surface, the idea that the Kansas City Chiefs would bother sending any representative at all to watch Colin Kaepernick work out for potential employment makes little sense.

The Chiefs already boast the NFL’s best quarterback under center in Patrick Mahomes and they’re well-stocked in the backup role—more than they’ve been in years, due to the presence of veterans Chad Henne and Matt Moore. Even then, Kyle Shurmur is also on the roster, albeit the practice squad, as a developmental arm who beat out Chase Litton in the preseason.

Even more, the idea of looking at Kaepernick could be a divisive topic for any NFL team these days. Kaepernick hasn’t played at the NFL level in years and has become a lightning rod for controversy depending upon a person’s political leanings—even if that’s unfair to the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

In case you missed the news, the NFL has set up a personal workout for Kaepernick in an odd display for a single player. The whole setup is weird and it makes zero sense why teams aren’t just bringing in Kaepernick if they are interested in a workout—just like any other free agent player. It’s also confusing as to why the NFL is choosing this moment for a quarterback who hasn’t played since 2016. Yet next Tuesday, the NFL is turning on the bright lights and giving Kaep a significant platform for interested parties.

The Chiefs will not be one of those. The NFL released a list of teams who would be present in some form at the workout and K.C. was not one of those.

It was interesting to hear Clark Hunt, the Chiefs owner, comment earlier this week that he believed general manager Brett Veach would send someone for the sake of information gathering.

“I haven’t had the chance to speak to Brett about it yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he sent someone because Brett likes to turn over every stone,” said Hunt. “We’re in a pretty good spot from a quarterback standpoint with four on the roster right now, but Brett does like to be very thorough in his due diligence.”

If the Chiefs were interested in Kaep, it could have been for the 2020 season given that Henne and Moore will be gone after this year if their current contracts play out. The Chiefs could be rolling thin with Mahomes and Shurmur next season. Then again there are plenty of opportunities to adjust the roster between now and then. What is clear is that Kaepernick won’t be a part of that.