Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be holding a private workout in Atlanta on Saturday, according to multiple reports released Tuesday.
All 32 teams have been invited to watch Kaepernick throw, the workout session will be recorded and sent to every team, and there will be time for interviews as well.
Kaepernick hasn’t played professional football since 2016, when he started protesting police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
He started 11 games for the 49ers that season and threw 16 touchdowns to four interceptions. The 49ers went 1-10 in those 11 starts.
Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL in 2017, accusing the owners of colluding to keep him out of the league after his protests.
In February, Kaepernick and the NFL settled for an undisclosed amount.
BUCCANEERS: Tampa Bay waived cornerback Vernon Hargreaves, the 11th overall pick in the 2016 draft and the most experienced starter in the team’s struggling secondary.
The team announced the move two days after the fourth-year pro was benched during the second half of a 30-27 victory over Arizona because of what Coach Bruce Arians described at the time as a lack of hustle.
Hargreaves started 33 of 35 games he appeared in over four seasons for the Bucs, who have the league’s 32nd-ranked pass defense. He has two career interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown during a loss to San Francisco in this year’s season opener.
General Manager Jason Licht said “after thoughtful consideration over the past few weeks” he and Arians concluded it was in the best interest of the Bucs to release Hargreaves and allow the cornerback to “explore other opportunities.”
The departure leaves the Bucs with a starting defensive backfield featuring a pair of rookies and two second-year players.
JETS: The Jets placed tight end Chris Herndon and right guard Brian Winters on the injured reserve list, ending the season for both players.
Herndon broke a rib in the Jets’ 34-27 victory over the Giants on Sunday, and Winters dislocated a shoulder.
GIANTS: Saquon Barkley said he will use the bye to find himself.
Barkley won Offensive Rookie of the Year a season ago and was among the league’s leading (and most exciting) running backs, not the one who was held to 1 rushing yard in 13 carries against the Jets in his last outing.
“Have that mindset that, no matter what happened in the first half of the season or what happened last week, that I’m the best player on the field and when I touch the ball I make things happen,” he said. “I’m gonna get back to that.”
Sunday’s performance – and his recent outings since returning from a high ankle sprain three games before it – seemed to create subtle cracks in Barkley’s confidence. He said recent conversations with his family, and his father in particular, brought him back to the mindset of a dominant player.
Even the always positive Barkley needs a pep talk from pops.
“After a tough loss and a disappointing performance from me with only 1 yard, obviously mentally, physically, you start, not questioning yourself,” he said, searching for the proper word for his subtle self-doubt yet never finding it. “But I was able to have a good sitdown talk with my father, and my family, and they gave me a lot of great advice to get myself back into it.”
• Tight end Scott Simonson has been re-signed by the Giants.
Simonson played 16 games with the Giants last season. He suffered an ankle injury in the preseason finale against New England this year and was placed on injured reserve in the final cut to the 53-man roster. He was released on Sept. 10.
The Giants also announced that offensive lineman Evan Brown was released and tight end Garrett Dickerson, wide receiver Alex Bachman and long snapper Colin Holba were added to the practice squad.
BRONCOS: Two players made their long-awaited debuts as the Broncos practiced – rookie quarterback Drew Lock and free-agent cornerback Bryce Callahan.
Lock landed on injured reserve to start the season after spraining his right thumb during an exhibition game against San Francisco in mid-August. The Broncos will have to make a decision on his status by Dec. 3. If they don’t activate him by that date, he’ll stay on IR and his season will be over.
Callahan has remained on the 53-man roster while dealing with a right foot injury since July. It’s the same foot he broke last December before signing a three-year, $21 million free agent contract to follow Vic Fangio from the Chicago Bears to Denver.
ZEKE BRATKOWSKI, the quarterback who backed up Bart Starr during the Green Bay Packers’ 1960s dynasty, has died at his Florida home. He was 88.
The team announced his death late Monday but did not disclose further details.
The Packers Hall of Famer was a quarterback in Green Bay from 1963-1968 and again in 1971. One of Bratkowski’s most notable performances in relief of an injured Starr came in 1965, a 13-10 overtime playoff win over the Baltimore Colts that sent the Packers to the title game against Cleveland.
They beat the Browns for what would be the first of three straight championship seasons, and Bratkowski played briefly in both Super Bowl wins in the two years that followed.
His death comes six months after Starr died at the age of 85. Under Coach Vince Lombardi, Starr led Green Bay to six division titles, five NFL championships and wins in the first two Super Bowls.
BROWNS: Starting defensive end Olivier Vernon will likely miss his second consecutive game with a knee injury when the Browns host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.
SCHEDULE: The NFL has flexed the Green Bay Packers’ trip to San Francisco to prime time on Nov. 24 along with announcing kickoff times for a handful of Week 16 games.
The Packers (8-2) and 49ers (8-1) replace Seattle at Philadelphia, which now will kick off at 1 p.m. on Nov. 24. Carolina at New Orleans moves from FOX to CBS, and Miami at Cleveland switches from CBS to Fox with kickoff times unchanged for both games.
The NFL had left the dates for some games for Week 16 undetermined.
Now Houston will play Tampa Bay on Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. on NFL Network followed by Buffalo at New England at 4:30 p.m. and the tripleheader will be capped by the Los Angeles Rams visiting San Francisco at 8:15 p.m. On Dec. 22, Detroit now is scheduled to visit Denver with Oakland’s game at the Chargers both set for 4:05 p.m.
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