Report: Ravens GM, coach open to Kaepernick; owner resistant
The Ravens are back in the NFL spotlight for the wrong reasons, again.
Three years after supporting Ray Rice and becoming the face of the league’s problem with how it handled domestic violence issues, the Ravens are now very much at the forefront of the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick’s NFL future.
ESPN reported Wednesday that Ravens coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome are both in favor of signing Kaeper- nick to provide insurance as starting quarterback Joe Flacco deals with a back injury, but owner Steve Bisciotti has resisted the idea.
The Ravens’ attempt to control the message on their pursuit of Kaepernick fell flat.
“We are going through a process, and we have not made a decision,” Newsome said Wednesday afternoon in a statement. “Steve Bisciotti has not told us we cannot sign Colin Kaepernick, nor has he blocked the move. Whoever is making these claims is wrong.”
Kaepernick became a lightning rod for both criticism and praise af- ter he began taking a knee during the national anthem at 49ers games last season to protest the treatment of minorities in this country.
The now nearly year-long debate that has fueled hours of sports talk radio has focused mostly on Kaepernick and the idea of not standing for the anthem, not his intended target for discussion. Kaepernick was a backup quarterback at the beginning of his protest, but started 11 games for the 49ers.
The team remained terrible, but Kaepernick threw 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions. Despite that, he has been unable to find a new employer this offseason, with plenty of speculation and analysis about why teams haven’t signed him. But only the Ravens have turned it into a public spectacle — with leaks of interest coming out, coaches and players supporting it, while the team’s top decision-maker still was undecided.
The report of Bisciotti’s apprehension is the latest in a string of bad headlines for the Ravens since Flacco’s injury and their interest in Kaepernick was first reported. Bisciotti reportedly reached out to Ray Lewis for counsel on this decision.
“It’s been discussed,” Bisciotti said of pursuing Kaepernick. “We’ve talked to a lot of our current players and a lot of our former players. I was speaking to Ray Lewis this morning. I know Ozzie had a long conversation with Ben Watson. I wouldn’t divulge people’s opinions. But I think you’d be kind of shocked at some people that are against it and some people that are for it. It’s not racialized. It’s not existing players versus former players. … I care about the fan base, but I have to absorb the opinions of the players that have been there.”