Kaepernick situation exposes NFL’s cowardice
Teams signing much worse QBs to avoid any type of backlash
It is true that Richard Sherman is not going to change a lot of minds about Colin Kaepernick.
That is, the football fans who swear up and down that they were just so mad about Kaepernick and his anthem protest last season are the same fans who generally don’t like the Seattle Seahawks cornerback and his tendency toward speaking his mind. Much of the criticism levelled at the former San Francisco quarterback — that he should have stayed quiet and not been a distraction to his team — has been directed at Sherman before. It’s kind of like being mad at Ben Affleck and having Matt Damon come to his defence.
Still, it is Sherman who provided the brief, perfect indictment of the NFL’s collective refusal to not offer Kaepernick a job.
Sherman was reacting to the news that Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was soliciting advice from fans and sponsors — and probably his hairstylist, life coach, and whomever else he could think to ask — about the possibility of signing Kaepernick.
Sherman said the idea of canvassing fans seemed odd when “Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett or whoever is playing for the Jets right now — whoever is starting for the Jets is terrible — have jobs. You’re telling me fans would rather you lose and put a worse player out there because a guy took a stand? That’s where it’s so troublesome to me.”
Bingo. Aside from the excellent Jets burn, Sherman’s point has been the case throughout Kaepernick’s months-long unemployment, which began when he left the 49ers in March. There have always been at least a handful of teams with objectively worse starting quarterbacks, and a considerable number of teams — half the league, probably — whose backups don’t possess anything near Kaepernick’s resume.
But as the NFL off-season has ticked along, the quarterback deficit on some of those rosters has only become more glaring. The Browns entered training camp with sophomores Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan, plus rookie DeShone Kizer at quarterback. They also have Brock Osweiler, whom they acquired, along with a useful draft pick, only because the Houston Texans were desperate to dump his salary.
Of course, Kaepernick is better at football than so many quarterbacks presently on rosters. He led a team to a Super Bowl and came within a play of winning it, and he has 72 touchdown passes and another 13 touchdowns on the ground to his credit, against just 30 interceptions. Honestly, it never takes until Week 3 of a given NFL season before there is a rush of stories about the dearth of quality players at the game’s most important and most difficult position, yet someone who has proven to be far more than capable at it is still a free agent while teams populate their rosters with long shots, journeymen and retreads?
The Miami Dolphins have since emerged as a late contender for Kaepernick, with news Ryan Tannehill injured his knee. Owner Stephen Ross has already said he didn’t think Kaepernick should be shunned due to his activism.
And in a sign of where we are in this NFL off-season, there have already been multiple reports about someone the Dolphins should acquire for QB security. Brock Osweiler, naturally.