<
>

Redskins didn't reach out to Colin Kaepernick despite internal discussions about QB

Head coach Jay Gruden said the injury-ravaged Washington Redskins "talked about and discussed" signing Colin Kaepernick this past week, but no one from the team reached out to the free-agent quarterback, a source told ESPN.

In fact, despite multiple teams' need for quarterbacks throughout the season, not one team has reached out to Kaepernick to gauge his interest or arrange a workout, according to a league source.

Mark Sanchez, who signed with Washington last month, will start at quarterback Sunday against the New York Giants. The Redskins signed quarterback Josh Johnson on Wednesday to be their backup to Sanchez after losing Colt McCoy to a broken leg in Monday's loss to the Eagles.

Gruden said Wednesday that the Redskins opted against signing Kaepernick because Washington would have to change too much of its offense to adapt to Kaepernick. Gruden acknowledged that there would have been "a greater possibility" of considering Kaepernick if the Redskins were in need of a quarterback in Week 1 rather than Week 14.

"There's not a lot of time to get a brand-new quarterback and system installed in a couple of days," he said before the Redskins signed Johnson. "He's been talked about, but we'll probably go in a different direction."

Johnson, however, served as Kaepernick's backup with San Francisco in 2014 under coach Jim Harbaugh in a West Coast offense, which the Redskins also run.

The Redskins already are without quarterback Alex Smith, who underwent season-ending surgery last month to repair a broken tibia and fibula in his right leg.

ESPN's John Keim and The Associated Press contributed to this report.