Colin Kaepernick’s November Workout Produces Its First NFL Signing, But Not For The Quarterback
It’s been nearly three weeks since Colin Kaepernick held his workout in Atlanta, and although he’s still waiting to be offered an NFL contract, the workout did lead to a deal for at least one player who participated in the quarterback’s throwing session.
When Kaepernick showed up to Atlanta last month, he brought along several receivers with him, including Bruce Ellington, Brice Butler, Jordan Veasy and Ari Werts. Out of that group, Veasy became the first one to land a deal this week when he was signed to the Redskins practice squad.
Before the Kaepernick workout, Veasy had been a free agent for nearly a month, and he firmly believes that working out with the quarterback helped put him back out in the public eye, which in turn helped him get his new job.
“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to be a part of it,” Veasy told the Washington Post. “Just being a part of the history of it, and I knew it was going to help me.”
For the workout, Kaepernick flew in his own guys, and Veasy ended up being one of them because he had met the quarterback in 2016 while Veasy was still in college at Cal. According to the Post, Veasy was taking a class about black representation in pop culture, and he became familiar with Kaepernick because the quarterback was auditing the course.
Now let’s fast forward three years to November: Veasy was looking for an NFL job when he heard about news of Kaepernick’s workout. At the time, Veasy was keeping in shape in his hometown of Gadsden, Alabama, which is just a two-hour drive from where the workout was scheduled to be held in Atlanta. Since he was going to be in close proximity, Veasy reached out to Kaepernick’s agent, who invited the former Cal receiver to show up.
“I was going to be in Gadsden running routes anyway,” Veasy said. “Might as well run ’em in front of some scouts.”
Not only did Veasy take part in the workout, but he was on the receiving end of the one pass that showed up on pretty much every highlight film of the workout: a deep ball that Kaepernick threw to the corner of the end zone.
Less than 10 days after the workout, Veasy got invited to Cleveland for a tryout with the Browns, but didn’t end up landing a contract. The receiver finally landed a deal this week when the Redskins called and offered him a spot on their practice squad. In something that’s probably not a coincidence, the Redskins just happened to be one of the seven NFL teams that sent at least one scout to the workout.
The Redskins will be the fifth team that Veasy has played for in his brief career, although he still has yet to see action in a regular season game. After going undrafted in 2018, the receiver was originally signed by the Titans, but got cut just before the start of the season. Veasy then signed with the Jaguars practice squad in late 2018, before signing a deal with the Colts in 2019. After being released by Indianapolis during finals cuts this year, Veasy signed with the Bills practice squad and had been with them until being released in mid-October.
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