Following Colin Kaepernick‘s workout on Saturday, Stephen A. Smith of First Take took to social media and said that the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback doesn’t actually want a job in the NFL. He believes that Kaepernick just wants to be a martyr. Monday morning, Smith provided more thoughts on the matter, saying that Saturday’s events just eradicate all of the QB’s points about the NFL.
During an expanded back-and-forth between Smith and his co-hosts, the longtime ESPN analyst explained why he has been critical of Kaepernick in recent days. To him, he doesn’t like how the free agent handled Saturday’s workout, including how he switched the location with fairly little notice.
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“The fact that he did not show up, to me, eradicates his points altogether,” Smith said on Monday morning. “From the standpoint of ‘the NFL, I’m looking for a job, running from the truth,’ and all this nonsense. His ‘I have a dream’ speech that he gave to the media and the public Saturday.”
The fact that Colin Kaepernick didn’t show up to his original workout location eradicates his points altogether. pic.twitter.com/ROYderTuPw
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 18, 2019
As Smith continued to explain, multiple moments created questions for him on Saturday. Specifically, he pointed out that the NFL and all of the teams that were scheduled to attend the workout found out about the change in location roughly 30 minutes before the start of the event.
This timeline made it appear to be a last-minute change. It also made it far more difficult for the teams to attend the workout considering that the new location was roughly an hour away from the Atlanta Falcons team facility, which was the original location.
However, Smith said that there were factors that made this switch appear planned. The workout took place at a public high school, and it was captured by videographers on site. Additionally, there was security in place, as well as many Kaepernick supporters in “I know my rights” shirts. For the co-host of First Take, this was just evidence that the former San Francisco 49ers QB had planned to change the location. He believes that Kaepernick would have had to meet with the superintendent of the school and get permission to hold the workout on the field.
If so, why was the NFL only finding out about the change a mere 30 minutes ahead of the workout’s start? Smith didn’t have the answers, but he thought it was important to ask the question.
(Photo Credit: Carmen Mandato/Getty)
