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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: Popman

Tebow will never appear in an MLB game except as a publicity stunt. At about 30, he’s not going to go back to football either. Kaepernick is about the same age, and, unlike Tebow, was actually once considered a baseball prospect.


81 posted on 03/17/2017 11:38:33 AM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
In short, "where the rubber meets the road," Kaepernick's declining quarterbacking skills is THE major reason why teams won't sign him.
82 posted on 03/17/2017 11:40:44 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: Grampa Dave
Kaepernick’s problem is NOT his politics.

He was nowhere near the worst starting QB in the league last year. He had a 16-4 TD to INT ratio and can run the football. He also very little talent at receiver to work with last year.

But, it makes no sense to bring him in as backup and deal with all the controversy he brings with him.

83 posted on 03/17/2017 11:41:28 AM PDT by Kazan
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To: RayChuang88
Kaepernick's problem is NOT his politics. It's the fact he's severely regressed in quarterback performance since 2013--and nobody wants him because of that.

Indeed. I believe his work ethic sucks. At that level, you cant just show up on Sunday and win. I suspect he's the type that rides his protected class status and no one will tell him to get off his ass and do the film and classroom work between game days.

84 posted on 03/17/2017 11:45:27 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
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To: Kazan

Good good good, now he will have more time to hang out w/ his Muslim (.ie Islamic activist) girlfriend.


85 posted on 03/17/2017 11:51:28 AM PDT by Pagey (8 years of MISERY, Thanks to Valerie Jarrett. Wretched human.)
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To: RayChuang88
Kaepernick's declining quarterbacking skills is THE major reason why teams won't sign him.

Yet, 37-year old Josh McCown is drawing more interest.

EJ Manuel and Geno Smith, two awful QBs that never had a year as a good as Kaepernick did LAST year, are still being signed backups.

Kaepernick is far more talented than any of them. But, no team wants him as a backup because he's a jerk and they don't want to deal with the controversy he brings.

86 posted on 03/17/2017 11:55:11 AM PDT by Kazan
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To: RayChuang88

Sooo,
The fact that he is a cancer for any team
And a real problem for a sizeable percentage of any fan base?
Winning isn’t every damn thing and i would NEVER root much less spend my money onsuch a team.


87 posted on 03/17/2017 11:56:06 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (President Trump makes obammy look like the punk he is.)
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To: ZOOKER
In a perfect world, Colin winds up being Tim Tebow’s pool boy

Feel-good story of the day!

Colin does not have the skills to scrape the Obama from the bottom of Tebow's shoes.

88 posted on 03/17/2017 11:56:56 AM PDT by Prov1322 (Enjoy my wife's incredible artwork at www.watercolorARTwork.com! (This space no longer for rent))
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To: Kazan

Patriotic karma! His chickens have come home to roost.


89 posted on 03/17/2017 12:02:30 PM PDT by catbertz
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To: Kazan

The new Cuban Football League, is looking for walk on talent.

Or Venezuela, where he might also be happy.


90 posted on 03/17/2017 12:03:43 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: Kazan

What goes around, comes around.


91 posted on 03/17/2017 12:07:40 PM PDT by truth_seeker
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To: vette6387; flat; unkus; SkyPilot; Liz; HarleyLady27; MinuteGal; ZULU; WENDLE; sheik yerbouty; ...

Colin and the NFL are getting all that they deserve and were begging for relative to his behavior. Let’s all pray that the RATs, MSM, GOP Elites all get everything that they deserve and are asking for as well.


92 posted on 03/17/2017 12:29:59 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: Made In The USA
I’d like Dallas to hire him.

As a tackling dummy.

Judging by the prowess of their defense in recent years, that would be a pretty safe job.

93 posted on 03/17/2017 12:36:35 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: Kazan

Yes indeed it is


94 posted on 03/17/2017 12:41:21 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: ExTexasRedhead

Its too late. The NFL should have never tolerated that jack ass 1 damned minuter. Because they did— THEY BOUGHT it and I know personally 30 people who walked away and will never come back. He is despised and the NFL can go to hell.


95 posted on 03/17/2017 12:44:41 PM PDT by WENDLE (We said REPEAL the socialism NOT replace with other socialism.!! RINOCARE GOES NOWHERE)
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To: Kazan
It's more than a week into free agency and Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed

This is my shocked face.

96 posted on 03/17/2017 1:01:13 PM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: Kazan

He’s an average quarterback with ticket sales disease. I loved watching him commit career suicide last year. Fascinating!


97 posted on 03/17/2017 1:08:36 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Kazan

I really believe that if his playing abilities were worth more than a squirt of warm pee, one of these 30 owners would give him a job. That’s how desperate they are for QB talent these days, and shows how little of it Kaepernick actually has.


98 posted on 03/17/2017 1:57:42 PM PDT by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that cannot trust you with guns?)
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To: Kazan

Same reasons a high school won’t hire him to coach.


99 posted on 03/17/2017 1:59:55 PM PDT by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
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To: vette6387

Companies work deals. Sports teams are by no means the only companies that work deals with local governments to get free or cheap access. Looked at how Toyota decides where to build a plant lately? NASCAR gets plenty of public funding and tax breaks, that’s the nature of business.


100 posted on 03/17/2017 2:55:59 PM PDT by discostu (There are times when all the world's asleep, the questions run too deep, for such a simple man.)
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