NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league has moved forward after scheduling a workout with former quarterback Colin Kaepernick last month, nearly three years after he last played in the league.
Kaepernick, who drew the ire of many including the president for kneeling during the national anthem years ago, recently held a workout in Atlanta, Georgia, in an attempt to convince NFL teams that he’s still capable of playing at a high level. While the NFL scheduled the event, and a number of teams planned on attending, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback changed the location of the workout at the last minute.
“This was about creating an opportunity,” Goodell told reporters on Wednesday at a league meeting, according to Reuters. “We created that opportunity. It was a unique opportunity, a credible opportunity, and he chose not to take it. I understand that.”
He later added, “We’ve moved on.”
After the workout, Kaepernick told scouts in attendance, “When you go back, tell your owners to stop being scared.”
To reporters, he said, “We’re waiting for the 32 owners, 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running. To stop running from the truth. To stop running from the people. Around here, we’re ready to play. We’re ready to go anywhere.”
Kaepernick was in a legal battle with the league over what he alleged to be a conspiracy among team owners to keep him out of the NFL after he began kneeling. He has since agreed to a settlement.
