Colin Kaepernick is drawing interest again and these NFL teams should sign him.
He hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016 but that has nothing to do with his talent. Colin Kaepernick took a knee that started a movement in the NFL and that ended up costing him his job.
Kaepernick decided to take that knee during the national anthem to protest, among other things, police violence against African Americans. Other players followed his lead but Kaepernick became the one who was targeted by the ‘disrespect the flag’ crowd.
With the current change in the political climate where social justice and racial equality are rightfully becoming a major focus, the NFL is now being called upon to do the right thing and bring Kaepernick back. And it also seems as though fans want this as a recent New York Post poll showed that people are finally agreeing with Kaepernick’s protest.
With Kap now working to come back in 2020, according to Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports, we look at five teams that could sign him to a contract this season.
Notable Omission: Seattle Seahawks
Recently, Pete Carroll spoke out about Colin Kaepernick and said he regrets not signing him to a deal back in 2017. In Carroll’s defense, he was the one coach who seemed to be giving the quarterback a fair shake and just felt he wasn’t the right fit for them at the time.
There’s still a chance Seattle could sign No. 7 to a contract but in the pacific northwest, he would be a long-time backup to Russell Wilson. That’s the reason this club didn’t crack the top 10 as instead, we look at teams where he could have a real shot at becoming a starter in the near future.
5. Tennessee Titans
Yes, the Tennessee Titans have their quarterback in Ryan Tannehill. And yes, Tannehill is actually one year younger than Colin Kaepernick meaning there won’t be any proverbial passing of the torch from Tannehill to Kap anytime soon. But it also doesn’t mean Kaepernick couldn’t come in and compete for the job in the next couple of seasons.
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Tannehill was a former first-round pick in 2012, just one season after Kaepernick went to the San Francisco 49ers in the second round. At that time, he was expected to be the Miami Dolphins’ future under center and he even earned a massive second contract from them.
In 2015, Miami and Tannehill agreed to a six-year, $96 million deal but then he ended up playing just four more seasons — while missing the entire 2017 campaign during that span. After signing the extension, Tannehill was 19-21 as a starter and would be traded to the Titans ahead of 2019.
After a solid season, once he took over for Marcus Mariota, Tannehill secured a $118 million extension covering four seasons. To call this contract questionable would be an understatement. Sure, Tannehill helped them get to the AFC Championship Game but in their two postseason wins, he completed 8-of-15 passes followed by a 7-of-14 game.
That was reminiscent of 1950s football where the forward pass was a shocking play, but Tennessee felt it was enough to justify nearly $30 million per season.
Sure, that’s the going rate for quarterbacks but rather than being stuck with that albatross of a deal for the full four seasons, why not bring in Kaepernick and see what he can do. Even if it’s not to take over for Tannehill, the Titans signal-caller has struggled mightily with durability in his career, so a solid backup that the team could believe in feels like a necessity in itself.
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
The AFC South just feels like a place where Colin Kaepernick can find success. This isn’t exactly a division full of stellar quarterback play as outside of Deshaun Watson — the one legitimate and unquestioned rising star in the division under center — there’s the aforementioned Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee, an aged Philip Rivers with the Indianapolis Colts, and Gardner Minshew with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now don’t take this the wrong way because Minshew could be a star in the NFL. The guy has the looks, the charm, the wardrobe, the killer mustache — everything. Not to mention, he was a sixth-round pick last season and no one expected him to have the success he did.
Minshew was 6-6 as the starter and completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 3,271 yards with a 21-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. There weren’t many issues in his game but there was also nothing spectacular. In fact, with the team turning to him as the starter full-time in 2020, there’s a growing belief that this team is destined for the No. 1 overall pick in 2021.
With that being the case, the Jaguars should definitely consider Colin Kaepernick who could not only rival the star power Minshew has accrued in one season, but could actually dwarf it. And for a team that struggles to draw a crowd — heck, they have to go to London once a year to get a packed house — landing a player who would put them in the national spotlight would be a blessing.
This was the reasoning behind those who wanted Tim Tebow signed in Jacksonville. The thought was the bulldozing southpaw would sell tickets at an astronomical rate, which would have been true for at least a year or so. Then the novelty of a single-wing offense would have worn off as people realized quarterbacks stopped completing just 47 percent of their passes around the same time Joe Namath retired resulting in diminishing returns.
With Kaepernick, he could actually compete and make them a better team. Meaning the uptick in attendance would be sustainable. Something to consider for sure.
3. Atlanta Falcons
There was a time when Matt Ryan was being questioned as the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. He had good numbers but was struggling to find success and following back-to-back losing seasons, he found the winning recipe. That recipe was Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator that turned Ryan into an NFL MVP in 2016.
That season, the Falcons even made it to the Super Bowl and had it not been for some bad playcalling in the fourth quarter, they might have won it all. Since they lost it, they became known for blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl and have heard countless jokes about being great for 45 minutes per game but soiling their britches in the final 15 minutes.
Following that loss, Shanahan moved to San Francisco and has started to win there, even making it to the most recent Super Bowl. As for Matt Ryan, he looks an awful lot like pre-Kyle Shanahan Matt Ryan again. His numbers are fine but they keep losing and he’s just 14-17 over the past two seasons.
There are still those who believe in Ryan more than they believe in themselves and while they’re surely swearing into their screens right now, it’s hard to deny that the front office has to have some legitimate concerns about No. 2 going forward. What better way to wake him up than to land Colin Kaepernick, a player capable of taking up the mantle and allowing them to move on from Ryan.
Atlanta is a city that would truly fall in behind Kaepernick and he could actually become an even bigger star for them than he already is. It could also serve as a Hail Mary for Dann Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff who already know they’re sitting on fiery hot seats and could use a spark to reignite their team.
2. New England Patriots
If you listen to Chris Simms, the New England Patriots are in great hands. Speaking on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” radio show, the former NFL quarterback unleashed his boldest of takes, saying Jarrett Stidham is not only the guy in New England but that he’s more talented than Tua Tagovailoa, who was just taken at No. 5 overall by the Miami Dolphins.
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Simms claim is that Stidham, or even Justin Herbert who is now with the Los Angeles Chargers, would have been fantastic in Alabama and that Tua is just a product of the system.
"“(Stidham is) more talented than Tua,” Simms said Tuesday on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” radio show. “(Tua) is a creation of Alabama. You don’t think Jarrett Stidham or like Justin Herbert would have set the world on fire if they got to play with four first-round receivers and two first-round tackles?”"
Breaking down this asinine statement is for another day, as clearly Alabama is not turning out great quarterback stats and in fact, players such as Jalen Hurts actually improved their numbers by leaving. However, the claim that Stidham could be the starter in New England isn’t crazy. That kid can play and if Bill Belichick believes in him, then who are any of us to question it.
Still, no one has seen Stidham do it at the NFL level. As for Colin Kaepernick, he came just one pass from winning a Super Bowl. He’s clearly a more experienced option and it would be fun to see what offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels could do with the mobile gun-slinger.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
The 2004 NFL Draft class was one of the best ever when it comes to NFL Quarterbacks. At No. 1, the San Diego Chargers took Eli Manning but then traded him to the New York Giants in exchange for Philip Rivers, who the Giants took at No. 4. Then at No. 11 was Ben Roethlisberger from Miami of Ohio.
All three have had phenomenal NFL careers with Manning and Big Ben each winning two Super Bowls. Having said that, they’re also all coming to the end of the road. Manning has already called it a career after stepping aside for Daniel Jones in 2019. As for Rivers, he just signed with the Colts following a frustrating final season with the Chargers.
Roethlisberger enters 2020 as the unquestioned starter for his team but the reality is, no one knows what to expect from the 38-year old quarterback. He was 0-2 last season as he tried to play through an elbow injury and finally decided to have surgery which cost him the remainder of the campaign.
If healthy, he can still deal but there’s no guarantee that he will be back to himself. And last season, the team simply wasn’t the same with Mason Rudolph or Devlin Hodges. Rudolph’s statistics were good but the team just didn’t have the same explosion or consistency on offense that Big Ben brought to the table.
For that reason, head coach Mike Tomlin would be wise to reach out to Colin Kaepernick and offer him a home. He could provide a smooth transition from Roethlisberger who had already hinted at retirement in the past. The best plan would be to get Kaepernick up to speed with their offense and back into playing shape in 2020 with the plan for him to be the guy in 2021.
It’s clear that now is the time for Colin Kaepernick to be back in the NFL and these five homes make too much sense for there to be another season without him playing.