‘Troublesome’ situation
NFL teams going with inferior QBs to avoid backlash of signing Kaepernick
a job and Quarterback X does, it feels a little like trying to comprehensively prove that the sky is blue. Of course he 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, and yet someone who has proven to be far more than capable at it is still a free agent while teams populate their rosters with longshots, journeymen and retreads?
Bisciotti revealed all the “football decision” nonsense to be just that when he admitted the fear of some kind of fan/sponsor backlash is part of his calculus. At least the collective cowardice from front offices is now out there on display. Former Raven Ray Lewis then weighed in to advise Kaepernick to keep his beliefs to himself. Ray Lewis! After an ESPN report that said Bisciotti was the only thing keeping the Ravens from signing Kaepernick, the front office disputed that interpretation. Does management really prefer to send the message that it thinks, from a football perspective, that Mallett is the better choice? This is that message: “Hello. We are dumb.”
The Miami Dolphins have since emerged as a late contender for Kaepernick, with news that Ryan Tannehill suffered a knee injury. Owner Stephen Ross has already said that he didn’t think Kaepernick should be shunned due to his activism.
And in a sign of where we are in this NFL offseason, there have already been multiple reports about someone the Dolphins should acquire for QB security. Brock Osweiler, naturally.