Few fits for NFL’s fallen stars
Kaepernick, Cutler and Peterson are still unsigned
It is a week and a half into NFL free agency. Most of the hefty contracts that are going to be negotiated have been handed out. No one has signed Colin Kaepernick, Jay Cutler or Adrian Peterson — and no one should be particularly surprised by that.
If Kaepernick or Cutler thought he was going to be the first choice for any quarterback-needy team, that was a miscalculation. If Peterson believed teams would regard him as a big-money player around which an offence can be built, he should be digesting the realities of the market.
The Kaepernick situation is complicated. Any team must make a decision about him as a player, trying to figure out if he can come close to the level he reached as a Super Bowl starter for the San Francisco 49ers. There also is a decision to be made about the public-perception ramifications of signing Kaepernick after he refused to stand for the U.S. national anthem before games this past season to protest his country’s treatment of African-Americans.
Executives with multiple teams said at the recent NFL scouting combine that Kaepernick’s statement would have to be at least considered by any organization.
“Certainly it’s a factor,” an executive with one organization said then. “Everything is a factor, especially at that position. You take everything into consideration. That’s the face of your franchise, as they say.”
So is that the sole reason Kaepernick has not been signed? Some observers say yes, pointing to the deals struck for some far-from-upper-tier quarterbacks. Geno Smith, for example, has lined up a deal with the New York Giants to back up Eli Manning.
But Joe Banner, an NFL analyst for ESPN, wrote on Twitter last week he’s not convinced Kaepernick is unsigned only because of his political statement.
“This is a backup QB one week into (free agency),” Banner wrote. “I am not convinced of the cause and effect.”
The number of starting jobs is dwindling. The Chicago Bears signed Mike Glennon to replace Cutler. The 49ers signed Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley and perhaps could get by for a year if they cannot pry quarterback Kirk Cousins from the Washington Redskins.
The Browns remain in dire need but have been linked to a prospective trade for New England Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo or possibly one for Cousins. They also have the first and 12th overall choices in the NFL draft.
Peterson might have more possibilities. The Oakland Raiders need a running back after losing Latavius Murray, who signed with the Minnesota Vikings in the move that led general manager Rick Spielman to pronounce Peterson would be heading elsewhere. The Raiders have been linked to the retired Marshawn Lynch, but Lynch remains contractually tied to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Green Bay Packers need a replacement for Eddie Lacy. There once was talk linking Peterson to the Giants, Houston Texans or Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The biggest deals in free agency are done, but some of the most interesting are still to come.