Peter King speculates Raiders doing due diligence on Colin Kaepernick for later in season

The Las Vegas Raiders caught plenty of attention last week when they brought Colin Kaepernick in for a workout. The timing was interesting, especially considering Derek Carr recently signed a lucrative contract extension.

But NBC Sports’ Peter King offered a possible explanation for the workout, and it doesn’t involve Carr’s future at all.

King argued the Raiders could be looking to see how Kaepernick would be for later in the season. He compared it to Bill Parcells’ “Ready List,” which featured names of unsigned free agents at each position in case someone got hurt.

“When I heard McDaniels say the Raiders had worked out a ton of guys, I thought of the Ready List, and thought of the ton of guys McDaniels and Ziegler saw Bill Belichick direct the Patriots to work out when they worked under Belichick,” King wrote. “That’s the way smart NFL people do business. In fact, I heard last week the Raiders have worked out two kickers this month, even though Las Vegas employs one of the best kickers in football, Daniel Carlson. Be ready for emergencies, always.

“My guess is McDaniels and Ziegler have that Ready List, for sure, and the workout of Kaepernick was to see where he might fall on that list in case the Raiders get an injury at quarterback. Or in case another team gets a quarterback hurt and trades for Mullens, leaving the Raiders with a roster spot to be filled by a quarterback.”

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels refuses to talk about Colin Kaepernick’s workout

Colin Kaepernick’s return to the NFL could have some momentum, as the former San Francisco 49ers starter worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders last week. Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels simply views Kaepernick’s workout as an opportunity to see if the team could make its roster better.

When asked about Kaepernick’s workout with the Raiders, McDaniels said that he would only talk about players currently on the roster.

“We will only talk about the people that are on our team,” McDaniels said, via Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams. “Dave (Ziegler) and his staff have worked out tons of guys this spring. We really don’t make comments about the evaluations that we made or what they looked like, what they didn’t look like, strengths and weaknesses, those kinds of thing. They are obviously kind of private for us as we look at things to try to make decisions to make the team better. If players are added to the team, then obviously we’ll talk about them at that point.

“I respect the question 100 percent. I understand, but that’s kind of what we’ll stick to.”