SOMETHING TO SEA
Colin Kaepernick to the Seahawks? Now that would make sense. Four years ago, Russell Wilson and Kaepernick faced each other in the NFC Championship Game with Wilson helping to prevent Kaepernick from taking the 49ers to back-to-back Super Bowls.
Now the Seahawks are the first team to reach out to Kaepernick to even express interest in signing him as a backup. The contact reportedly came last Friday. The Seahawks are also interested in Robert Griffin III, but Kaepernick is a better player and Griffin is always hurt.
Kaepernick and the Seahawks are a good fit for many reasons. Here are five: Wilson and Kaepernick play similar styles. They do their best work out of the pocket where they improvise and make something out of nothing. That means the Seahawks don’t have to install a different set of plays for Kaepernick if Wilson is injured. Pete Carroll is like a camp counselor. He’s surely the most popular coach in the league among the players. His player-friendly style was considered a detriment when he coached the Jets in 1994. Truth is, he was ahead of his time. More than 20 years later, keeping things loose in this age of opinionated wealthy players, social media and constant brush fires is his strength. At 65, he is the oldest coach in the NFL, but he’s 65 going on 25. Carroll has handled Richard Sherman’s sideline tirades, so he can handle Kaepernick’s politics. T he Seahawks players were among the most supportive of Kaepernick’s national anthem protest last season. Kaepernick initially sat during the anthem and Seattle cornerback Jeremy Lane soon did the same to back him up. Several Seahawks spoke out on Kaepernick’s behalf. He later went from sitting during the anthem to kneeling. The Seahawks locked arms during the anthem as a sign of team unity. Kaepernick said he would stand during the 2017 season, so a potential distraction has been eliminated. When Sherman was asked in March if Kaepernick was being blackballed, he said, “I’m sure he is.” Seattle desperately needs a quality backup quarterback. Trevone Boykin is No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart; but he was arrested in Dallas on March 27 on charges of public intoxication and marijuana possession and then arrested again on April 3 for a possible probation violation going back to a 2015 incident in a bar in San Antonio when he was at TCU. Seattle signed Boykin as an undrafted free agent in 2016 and he attempted just 18 passes as a rookie. K aepernick played the first six years of his career in the NFC West. So he is familiar with the division and the 49ers defensive personnel, although with new coaches in San Francisco, the scheme and many of the players will be different. He has played many times against the Rams and Cardinals.
Kaepernick has regressed since he was considered the next great thing in 2012, but it should be embarrassing to the NFL that he has not signed. Nobody would ever admit he’s been blackballed based on his politics, but it’s not shocking that teams run by billionaire owners are afraid of him. When you take a stand as Kaepernick did, there are going to be repercussions.
The Seahawks have built up a lot of good will in Seattle, they have a strong locker room, a very wealthy owner in Paul Allen, and are built to withstand any pushback in the community.
“We’re looking at everybody. We really are,” Carroll said. “We’ve been tracking everything that’s going on, and we’ve got cap and roster issues and stuff like that that we’re still trying to manage properly. But quite frankly, yes, we are looking at all those guys.”
Kaepernick was 1-10 starting for a very bad 49ers team last season after Blaine Gabbert was benched. His individual numbers were much better: He completed 59.2% of his passes for 2,241 yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. Those numbers are good
enough that he should have been signed long ago. He may never be the weapon he was in his best seasons of 2012 and 2013 when Jim Harbaugh was his coach, but he has more talent than the group of QBs who have been signed this year. Kaepernick is only 29 years old, so he should be in his prime. Remember, one year ago, Kaepernick was John Elway’s first choice to replace Peyton Manning, but Denver wanted him to take a pay cut and they couldn’t come to terms. The lack of interest this year clearly comes back to Kaepernick's anthem protest against police brutality. How else do you explain Mike Glennon, Geno Smith, Brian Hoyer, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley, Nick Foles, Josh McCown, Chase Daniel, Blaine Gabbert, E.J. Manuel, Case Keenum, Aaron Murray, T.J. Yates, Matt McGloin all signing as free agents with new teams in the last two months but Kaepernick is still looking for work? Early on, the word was Kaepernick was asking for too much money, but if the Seahawks were the first team to contact him, then it stands to reason Kaepernick never had the opportunity to tell anybody what he wants. Every player’s goal is to start, but if no team reached out, how did they know if he'd be open to taking a backup job? Wilson has played through injuries, but has started all 80 regularseason games and all of the Seahawks' 12 playoff games in his five-year career. He played with a sprained ankle last season and the Seahawks offense struggled until he was healthy. If Carroll had a quality backup, he might have been inclined to sit Wilson for a week or two to let him heal. There is momentum building for Seattle to sign Kaepernick. Now that their interest is well known, they will have some explaining to do if they sign RG3 or somebody else to back up Wilson.