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COLIN KAEPERNICK SENTENCED TO NFL LIMBO
Bleacher Reporter ^ | 3/17/2017 | Mike Freeman

Posted on 03/17/2017 10:07:05 AM PDT by Kazan

It's more than a week into free agency and Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed. Remember, this is a quarterback who played in the Super Bowl only four years ago, yet now it appears he can't get a look from teams. So I set out to discover, once and for all, what teams think of the 29-year-old former Niner.

"He can still play at a high level," one AFC general manager said. "The problem is three things are happening with him.

"First, some teams genuinely believe that he can't play. They think he's shot. I'd put that number around 20 percent.

"Second, some teams fear the backlash from fans after getting him. They think there might be protests or [President Donald] Trump will tweet about the team. I'd say that number is around 10 percent. Then there's another 10 percent that has a mix of those feelings.

"Third, the rest genuinely hate him and can't stand what he did [kneeling for the national anthem]. They want nothing to do with him. They won't move on. They think showing no interest is a form of punishment. I think some teams also want to use Kaepernick as a cautionary tale to stop other players in the future from doing what he did."

When I spoke to a handful of executives at the combine a few weeks ago, one even called him "an embarrassment to football."

For the moment, the interest in Kaepernick is slim, and that's putting it kindly.

It's possible teams are waiting for the right time to make their play for him. That's sometimes how it works in free agency. Weeks or months will go by with little interest in a player and then, boom, it all heats up at once.

But what's happening with Kaepernick is highly unusual. So far, it seems he hasn't visited a single team. I can't find a quarterback-needy team that's interested. Again, things can change quickly, but the silence is deafening.

From a football perspective, teams worry about Kaepernick's throwing accuracy. He still has some difficulty hitting tight windows and sometimes runs even when receivers are open. In 2016, Kaepernick connected on 59.2 percent of his passes, which ranked 26th in the league.

There's also the perception—a wrong one—that he has difficulty learning new schemes.

And if those weren't enough, concerns linger that he is moody and not a good teammate. That belief also may not be accurate. From speaking to 49ers players about Kaepernick, it's clear most of the San Francisco locker room liked him.

Kaepernick can take hope in how putrid the quarterback market is. When Jay Cutler is at the top of the heap, that says it all.

There are still teams desperate for a competent QB, so much so that one eventually will find the risk in signing Kaepernick is worth any potential backlash. That's my guess.

Still, it's hard to emphasize how unusual Kaepernick's current situation is. If a Super Bowl quarterback can walk and chew bubble gum simultaneously, he gets opportunities. Those opportunities usually arrive until that player is totally and completely done. That's not the case with Kaepernick.

Four years ago, he ran for a playoff-record 181 yards and two scores at Green Bay as the 49ers beat the Packers in a divisional playoff game, 45-31. The Niners would then go to Atlanta and upset the Falcons in the NFC title game before losing Super Bowl XLVII to the Ravens when a last-gasp drive fell five yards short. Throughout those playoffs, Kaepernick was more than capable, completing 61.3 percent of his passes, throwing only two interceptions and producing a combined quarterback rating of 100.9.

Guys like that get multiple shots.

Further adding to the intrigue is that teams understand Kaepernick hasn't been playing with a great deal of talent around him recently. The 49ers, frankly, have been a dumpster fire the past few years, and it showed with some of the players with which the team surrounded their QB.

Despite all of that, his phone is not ringing off the hook. Or at all, for that matter.

Kaepernick's new agents appear to have foreseen all of this, which is why it wasn't surprising when sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Kaepernick would start standing for the anthem.

Now, he sits. Waiting and waiting. A still-talented player whose political statement may have cost him his NFL career.


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: athletes; chat; clickbait; editedtitle; kaepernick; nfl; trump
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To: Kazan

This rump-clown is a degenerate, anti-American ingrate with the brain of a diseased gerbil. I hope he still feels that his “principled stand” was worth throwing away a multi-million dollar career. What a bonehead!


101 posted on 03/17/2017 2:58:57 PM PDT by Gargantua ("Still Not Tired Of Winning---bayotch!" ;^)
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To: Kazan; ExTexasRedhead
Love it.

Those 3 very low paid enlisted men holding the edges of the American flag have more integrity and honor in their little finger than does Krapernick.

102 posted on 03/17/2017 3:55:32 PM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: Kazan

Who needs a troublemaker whose abilities have waned?


103 posted on 03/17/2017 4:05:25 PM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Building the Wall! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: D Rider

That and a backlash over Ray Rice and others who are thugs. Colin was just the final straw.


104 posted on 03/18/2017 2:57:45 AM PDT by Mozilla (Truth Is Stranger than Fiction.)
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To: muleskinner

“Football-wise, he was never a consistently accurate passer, and with less than All Pro receivers to throw to, his shortcomings become very apparent”

That and his threat to run gave Linebackers and DB’s fits which to some degree opened up the passing game for him. The couple times I saw him play last season it looked like his shoes were made of cement. A bit surprising at age 29 to have lost so much mobility, but then again he has taken more hits than a traditional drop back QB. Many Running Backs have lost a step and their careers are done by that age. That or they are running as back ups due to the punishment they take.


105 posted on 03/18/2017 3:53:40 AM PDT by DAC21
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To: discostu

That, and a number of NFL ‘palaces’ are financed by the team. Of course they generally aren’t within the reach of a major city.


106 posted on 03/19/2017 6:19:38 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Kazan

Kaepernick’s BLM girlfriend who motivated his bad behavior should go down in the records as on of the most expensive pieces of Pu**y ever.


107 posted on 03/19/2017 9:18:26 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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