Joining a widening chorus of those who have an opinion on the subject (President Donald Trump included), outspoken and sometimey cornerback Richard Sherman says that the NFL is on some b.s. when it comes to quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
On ESPN’s First Take on Friday, Sherman was asked if Kap was being blackballed by NFL teams.
“I’m sure he is,” Sherman said. “It’s difficult to see because he’s played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it’s difficult to understand.”
He continues, “But you see quarterbacks, there was a year Matt Schaub had a pretty rough year and got signed the next year. So it has nothing to do with football. You can see that. They signed guys who have had off years before.”
ESPN reports that while Sherman initially said that Kaepernick would have to settle for a backup role, he later changed his mind when considering some of the other quarterbacks who have gotten starting jobs.
“You don’t have 32 starting-level quarterbacks in this league,” Sherman said. “You have about eight elites, and then you have the rest of the league. … So he could play and start on a ton of teams in this league. … But you’re telling me that you’re going to let other guys, you’re going to pick up some of these other guys and tell me that they’re starters?”
Kaepernick’s case is complicated. He played relatively well this past season, with 16 touchdown passes, four interceptions and a passer rating of 90.7. But he didn’t keep the San Francisco 49ers from going 2-14. He was, at one point, a backup to Blaine Gabbert. It is not clear if he can recapture the on-field star quality that once made him a Super Bowl starter for the 49ers.
Along with that comes the issue of the political statement that he made. Executives from multiple NFL teams said at the scouting combine that any team that considers signing Kaepernick will have to take that into consideration.
Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas wrote over the weekend on Twitter:
“Teams don’t currently view him as a starting QB, and NFL teams accept ZERO distractions from their backup QBs.”
I guess we just have to keep our eyes on the ball! :-)
