LeSean McCoy comments on Colin Kaepernick: Was he right?
By Dennis Moody
Finally, let’s talk about whether the last few teams could use Colin Kaepernick including the Buffalo Bills.
The Buffalo Bills are another interesting team. They currently have Tyrod Taylor for a relatively inexpensive contract at the starting quarterback position. They drafted Nathan Peterman this year and are so far happy with what he has shown. They also have a plethora of picks early in next years draft should they want to move after one of the premiere talents coming out giving them another option. They have enough salary cap room to sign Kaepernick but they have been looking for a franchise quarterback for many years and Kaepernick is not that at this point. He wouldn’t be a good fit for Buffalo.
The Arizona Cardinals are also an intriguing situation. They have an established starter in Carson Palmer but he will be 38 before the season is over. Kaepernick is not an upgrade to him, but he would be an upgrade over the Cardinals backups. If Kaepernick would be willing to take a backup role with no chance of winning the starting job besides due to injury, Arizona could be a good fit for him.
Head Coach Bruce Arians commented and acknowledged Kaepernick’s right to protest while disagreeing with his method. His comments didn’t seem critical enough where he wouldn’t consider him.
Arizona’s owner donated mostly to Republicans from 2009 to 2013 so it’s possible he would not support his protest. Arizona also signed Blaine Gabbert which was questionable but that was for the league minimum and who knows whether Kaepernick would accept that little money. Arizona could potentially be one of the teams blackballing him.
The last team that could absolutely use Kaepernick but that is not going to sign him is the 49ers. He played for them last year, but chose to decline a player option for $16.9 million. San Francisco went after Brian Hoyer in the offseason and they have indicated they don’t feel Kaepernick is a scheme fit for what they are trying to do. It’s hard to understand why you wouldn’t change your scheme around a more talented player like Kaepernick but many NFL executives are stubborn and want to do things their way.
As you can see most NFL teams have extremely good reasons not to pursue Kaepernick. This doesn’t necessarily absolve them from participating in a league wide blackball of the quarterback but at the same time shows that for most teams due to his unique playing style, talent level, and media baggage comes with him, Kaepernick is not a good fit for most teams in the league.
The few teams that he would upgrade instantly are the Texans, Broncos, Cardinals, Jaguars and the 49ers in my opinion. If you do believe he is being blackballed, I think those franchises have the most explaining to do.