FILE PHOTO: Colin Kaepernick is seen at a special training event created by Kaepernick to provide greater access to scouts, the media, and the public, at Charles. R. Drew High School in Riverdale, Georgia, U.S., November 16, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage
NEW YORK (Reuters) – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Wednesday that the league had “moved on” from last month’s long-awaited workout with Colin Kaepernick, three years after the former 49ers quarterback kneeled during the pre-game national anthem in protest of racial injustice.
The protests drew the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump and Kaepernick said teams would not sign him because of his activism. He eventually settled a collusion grievance case with the National Football League in February.
The NFL announced the special workout with just a few days’ notice, and the 32-year-old quarterback moved the tryout from the Atlanta Falcons facility to a high school after learning the media would not be permitted to attend otherwise.
“This was about creating an opportunity,” Goodell told reporters on Wednesday, at a league meeting. “We created that opportunity. It was a unique opportunity, a credible opportunity and he chose not to take it. I understand that.
“We’ve moved on.”
Representatives for Kaepernick, who has long maintained that he is ready to rejoin the league, said the workout was moved to the high school facility as a result of the NFL not conducting the workout as a “legitimate process.”
Reporting By Amy Tennery. Editing by Gerry Doyle