Kaepernick Will Never Be in the Nfl Again Get Over It

There's some legitimate momentum growing for something that once seemed impossible. Amidst all the turmoil generated in the wake of George Floyd'due south killing, the NFL is opening a door to the possibility of Colin Kaepernick's return. Information technology kickoff started terminal Thursday with the league pledging $250 1000000 to combat systemic racism and historic injustices faced by blackness people, while also showing a willingness to piece of work directly with Kaepernick on tackling those issues. Inside hours of that announcement, Seattle head coach Pete Carroll -- whose Seahawks had considered signing Kaepernick in 2017 -- told local reporters that some other squad recently had reached out to Carroll to discuss that offseason visit three years ago.

Carroll wouldn't reveal the name of the franchise, just he did say, "I know somebody'southward interested, and we'll see what happens with that." He also acknowledged that his team isn't in the market place for another signal-caller, with perennial Pro Bowler Russell Wilson set as the starter and Geno Smith as the master backup. Carroll's state of affairs speaks to the problem Kaepernick inevitably volition face if there is indeed another opportunity in the NFL. Simply because in that location are people thinking about it, that doesn't necessarily hateful there'due south a natural fit with whatsoever specific franchise.

Kaepernick obviously has had a twisted history with the league ever since he began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and other social injustices. Over the next couple years, both he and former 49ers safety Eric Reid -- who joined Kaepernick in kneeling -- filed grievances confronting the league, claiming their protests had resulted in owners colluding to deny them employment. Reid'south contract with San Francisco expired after the 2017 season, but he eventually institute piece of work with the Panthers, signing late in September of 2018. Meanwhile, Kaepernick has remained unemployed since the end of the 2016 entrada. In Feb of 2019, both players reached confidential settlements with the league and dropped those grievances.

The nearly recent attempt to bring Kaepernick dorsum into the league also resulted in controversy. The NFL arranged a workout for him in Atlanta last Nov, inviting all 32 teams to attend. That event never happened, as Kaepernick backed out 30 minutes before the start considering of concerns about the workout not being open to all media and the structuring of the liability waiver the league wanted him to sign. He ultimately moved the event to a high schoolhouse nigh threescore miles southwest of the original location, where he threw passes in front end of representatives from viii teams, according to Kaepernick'southward amanuensis. After the outing, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport relayed a consensus scouting written report from evaluators in attendance. The workout consisted of 60 scripted throws, no runs and no agility work. Co-ordinate to Rapoport'south sources, Kaepernick "was in good shape and he has a fastball." And while he struggled at times with accuracy -- an issue Kaepernick dealt with even during his finest days in San Francisco -- he looked "skillful enough to be on a roster, likely backup level."

However, the common belief afterward that roller-coaster upshot was that the relationship between Kaepernick and the NFL was too broken to ever be healed. Now the league is extending olive branches and Kaepernick once once more has to remember nigh how much trust he wants to offering. We'll meet if these latest attempts at reconciliation lead to a positive conclusion.

In the meantime, it's definitely worth pondering the franchises that would exist the best fits for Kaepernick if he did return to the league. But seeing how the 32-year-old quarterback hasn't taken an NFL snap since January 1, 2017, two significant questions loom large:

1) How rusty is Kaepernick's game subsequently three total seasons out of the NFL?
2) How much might a squad's QB depth chart factor into Kaepernick's determination/willingness to sign?

Scanning organizations (and quarterback rooms) beyond the league, here are the five nearly logical landing spots for Kaepernick:

Aye, the Ravens accept the reigning league MVP in quarterback Lamar Jackson. They also have Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator whose system vaulted Kaepernick to stardom in San Francisco. They accept John Harbaugh, the older brother of Jim, the current Michigan caput coach who was leading the 49ers when Kaepernick was playing the best football of his professional career. Most importantly, the Ravens have an exceptional roster that makes Baltimore ane of the favorites to win the coming season's Super Bowl. That means the story of Kaepernick returning to the league wouldn't dominate the media spotlight, or turn into a lark, in the aforementioned style it would in some other markets.

Of course, in that location is a checky history here, as well. The Ravens were the most open team in the league when it came to discussing their interest in Kaepernick prior to the 2017 season. This was back when Joe Flacco was still their undisputed starter and they had no idea they'd exist completely overhauling their offensive arroyo for a talent like Jackson, the squad's second offset-round pick in 2018. There accept been several published reports about why Baltimore never signed Kaepernick -- most notably that numerous fans negatively reacted to the possibility and that a tweet by Kaepernick's girlfriend, one comparing an encompass betwixt legendary Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and team owner Steve Bisciotti to a hug betwixt a slave and slave owner in the picture Django Unchained, ticked off Bisciotti -- but there was real interest back then.

The Ravens are now so all-in on the read-pick system that Jackson used to terrorize opponents that their backups are both athletic quarterbacks cut from the aforementioned mold as Kaepernick: Robert Griffin Three and Trace McSorley. If any of those quarterbacks were to go down with an injury, it wouldn't exist surprising to see Baltimore accomplish out to the exiled star.

This is the team that makes the most sense if Kaepernick wants a shot at competing for a starting job someday. The Jaguars have high hopes for second-year quarterback Gardner Minshew Ii, especially after he produced a solid rookie flavor later on beingness thrown into the fire in Week 1, finishing with iii,271 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions. He certainly turned some heads when he took over for an injured Nick Foles. What we don't know is whether he's another version of Foles: A player who can perform at a high level in emergency situations but lacks the consistency to exist an effective starter twelvemonth in and year out. The Jaguars also don't have an impressive quarterback room after Minshew. Their master backups are Mike Glennon, a 30-twelvemonth-old journeyman on his fifth NFL roster, and Joshua Dobbs, a player who has appeared in five games (with zero starts) over three seasons with Pittsburgh/Jacksonville.

Aside from the competition, the upside of Kaepernick landing here is that it's a small market. He could settle in, work on his craft and rebuild his career without hordes of reporters hanging on his every word. Jags owner Shad Khan also has been vocal about his own experiences with racism, so much so that he wrote an op-ed that appeared on his team'due south website. If Khan actually is that upset almost inequity, so he might desire to give Kaepernick an opportunity to restart his career. Information technology would transport quite the bulletin, especially since Jacksonville will now be the site of the Republican National Convention and President Donald Trump has been an extremely vocal critic of athletes who kneel during the national canticle.

This is where it gets interesting. The Patriots simply lost Tom Brady and they're placing their electric current hopes on the evolution of 2nd-twelvemonth quarterback Jarrett Stidham, a player who has thrown all of 4 passes in his NFL career. Backing him up is Brian Hoyer, a career journeyman now on his third stint in New England. Stidham may be talented and he may have impressed the coaches in his brief fourth dimension with that system thus far. That doesn't hateful the 2019 4th-round pick is going to be successful. If anything, the conviction in Stidham suggests that he can bring some qualities to the position that Brady didn't possess, most notably an element of athleticism that is becoming more prominent in signal-callers all over the league. If able-bodied ability is a major selling point for Stidham, so Kaepernick should be on the Patriots' radar, as well. Kaepernick congenital his entire career off his ability to throw and run. Now, can he yet be dynamic after three years away from football and with his 33rd birthday arriving in November? That's a not bad question to ask and a hard one to respond.

It's besides clear that the Patriots want to give Stidham a fair shot, particularly because they didn't chase after Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston or Cam Newton when they became free agents. However, this is a new era in New England, and Bill Belichick is incredibly aware of how much mobile quarterbacks hurt his squad in 2019. Peradventure he wouldn't listen having one more on his side before this new flavour kicks off.

Anybody who watched the Steelers final season knows how bad their backup QB situation was. They lost starter Ben Roethlisberger to elbow surgery subsequently Week 2 and then spent the residue of the season trying to survive with Stonemason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges nether center. The Steelers managed to go eight-vi over their last fourteen games, but those two backups combined for eighteen touchdowns and 17 interceptions. The addition of Paxton Lynch to this year'southward roster doesn't better the situation, either. What's even more encouraging near this franchise is its history. The Rooney Rule is named after Dan Rooney, the erstwhile Steelers owner who died in 2017, and the homo who once chaired the league's variety committee. The Steelers have had merely iii head coaches since 1969 and had no reservations hiring a black candidate, electric current head man Mike Tomlin, when he wasn't the sexiest proper name in their search dorsum in 2007. This is a team that hasn't been afraid to think outside the box when necessary.

That'south non to say Kaepernick makes sense here because Pittsburgh would exist looking to make things correct between him and the NFL. The Steelers take legitimate concerns in their quarterback room and a starter who is 38 years sometime. At the very to the lowest degree, it'southward worth kicking the tires on Kaepernick to see what he might offer.

Head jitney Bill O'Brien recently said he'll exist kneeling to protest social injustice this coming flavour. He's also the team's general director, so he has the final say on personnel decisions. AJ McCarron is a solid backup for Deshaun Watson, only at that place's nobody else on the roster who couldn't be challenged for a job. Only as with Baltimore, Kaepernick joining a franchise like this only makes sense if he's taking a patient approach toward re-inbound the league.

In that location too are some ancillary benefits hither. Houston is the urban center where George Floyd grew up and the Texans dealt with plenty of controversy related to player protests in 2017. The infamous comments made by now-deceased possessor Bob McNair during that tumultuous yr -- McNair said "We can't have the inmates running the prison" in a discussion most protests among owners and NFL executives, though he stated those words were taken out of context in an ensuing apology -- most resulted in outright revolt inside that franchise. O'Brien had to do major impairment control dorsum then. The presence of Kaepernick might help heal a lot of quondam wounds and there certainly wouldn't be much business concern about his views on social injustice inside the locker room. Watson was amid the grouping of players who posted a video enervating that the league make amends for how players who protested were treated in years by. He also simply led a petition that resulted in his alma mater, Clemson, removing the name of a prominent racist figure from an on-campus building. Add in wide receiver Kenny Stills -- who's been extremely vocal on these aforementioned issues since 2016 -- and Kaepernick doesn't seem like a radical conquering at all. If anything, he would fit correct in.

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Source: https://www.nfl.com/news/could-colin-kaepernick-return-to-the-nfl-five-logical-team-fits