Carr’s backup a call away
Ladies and gentlemen, now playing quarterback for the Raiders, No. 7, Colin Kaepernick! Yes, I do believe Marquette King will give up his jersey number when Kaepernick comes aboard as the backup to Derek Carr.
But the number on the jersey is not important. What is important is that the Raiders need an upgrade at backup quarterback, and Kaepernick is the best option, and he is a phone call away. Here’s why it will happen: Kaepernick is in super shape, eager to play football, and Oakland is a perfect fit — the city and the team.
Jon Gruden almost certainly believes he can harness and exploit Kaepernick’s formidable — but unconventional — quarterback skill set.
Gruden is too smart and too honest to lean on the cliche about needing bookend quarwrench terbacks: a starter and backup with near-identical styles.
Gruden will flash an evil smile every time he pulls into the Raiders’ parking lot at 4 a.m. and sees Kaepernick’s car.
Owner Mark Davis is not a big fan of the Kaepernick-inspired protests, but Davis has ceded roster decisions to Gruden, just as Jed York did to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, who didn’t want Kaepernick.
Jack Del Rio, a protest hater, is gone.
What I hear is that the Las Vegas money people behind the new stadium made it known last year that they did not want Kaepernick in the picture. I don’t know if their reasons were pragmatic (Kaepernick controversy might affect financial dealing) or political. But there’s no stopping the construction now, so signing Kaepernick would not monkey- the stadium.
Gruden’s too busy with football to worry about politics, and he’s too cocky to believe that a little media attention on Kaepernick would derail the Gruden Train.
The other team owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell would love it because it would take the heat and shame off them for their de facto blackball of Kaepernick.
It would give President Trump reason to renew his love for the NFL. OK, I’m kidding on this one, but seriously, it would give Trump something to tweet about on a slow day. “I’m taller and fitter than the Raiders’ new quarterback.”
Don’t think Gruden’s not mulling this over.