Colin Kaepernick and His Quest For a New Team

Colin Kaepernick is currently looking for a new job in the NFL, and he has quite a difficult road ahead of him. Between his poor play over the past two years and the fact that he became a gigantic distraction for the 49ers due to his anthem protest, there aren’t too many upsides in having Kaep on your squad. Kaepernick himself wants to be paid at the very least $9 million and he wants what would almost be a guarantee for a starting job. However, this seems quite unrealistic. A quarterback with backup talent being paid $9 million is simply not worth it, especially with someone with the potential distracting powers of Colin Kaepernick. To show that there isn’t a good place for Kaepernick to land, let’s take a look at each opening for starting quarterback across the league.

AFC North: Steelers are good, Bengals are good, Ravens are good. The Browns however, may have a small opportunity for Kaep to take advantage of. The Browns offensive line is being built up quite nicely and Isaiah Crowell was a solid running back last year. The Browns just need a solid quarterback to help continue the rebuild of their team that started in 1999. Between the 6 Cleveland players that played quarterback at some point last year (RG3, Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, Kevin Hogan, Charlie “Clipboard Jesus” Whitehurst, and Terrelle Pryor), only 2 remain. Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan will compete against each other and the brand new expensive addition of Brock Osweiler to determine who will start at quarterback. In the end, the Browns have better things to spend their money on than a failed Quarterback (God knows they know all too well about that subject).

AFC South: Colts are good, Titans are good, Jaguars are questionable, but have potential. The Houston Texans are looking for a Quarterback. However, Tom Savage is a decent placeholder for now until the Texans find the right person (Romo would fit pretty well). The Texans will have their options in the draft and other available Free Agent Quarterbacks if they can’t get a deal for Romo, but Kaepernick should only be considered as a last ditch effort. I’m not sure how much the people of Houston would appreciate a Castro supporter as their starting quarterback.

AFC East: Patriots are good, Dolphins are good (and also despise Castro supporters), Bills are comfortable with Tyrod. The New York Jets would appear to be an option, however, they have some young, untapped talent and potential in their current Quarterback pool. Bryce Petty showed some promise last year, and Hackenberg has something to prove. Josh McCown was recently signed by the Jets as well, bringing a veteran to the team. Todd Bowles has already announced that the starting Quarterback position will be be competed for between these three players, so unless all of them are drastically horrible, I don’t see the Jets going after Kaepernick.

AFC West: Raiders are good, Chargers are good, Chiefs are okay. Denver and John Elway are rumored to be looking around for a Quarterback (many assume Romo), but Elway has come out to say that he has faith in Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. Whether or not this is true, nobody is 100% sure, but it would really destroy the confidence levels of his younger quarterbacks if another quarterback was to be signed with the expectation of them starting over Siemian or Lynch. The Broncos might sign someone, but it would most likely be an emergency backup.

NFC North: Packers are good, Lions are good, Vikings are alright and waiting for Teddy to fully recover. Da Bears however, have a fairly shaky quarterback situation. As of right now, the Bears would be starting Mike Glennon with Mark Sanchez as a backup. Glennon has never truly had an opportunity to prove himself on the NFL level, and while I do believe he can be a competent Quarterback, there isn’t a whole lot of certainty. The same goes for Mark Sanchez. While at one point, Sanchez was a playoff quarterback, the infamous butt fumble tore his name down drastically. However, that was many moons ago and it seems he is ready to make a name for himself if he is given the opportunity. Kaepernick could fit in here, but there are quarterbacks with more potential and a better overall attitude about ways that they can impact the team.

NFC South: Falcons are good, Saints are good, Panthers are good, Bucs are good. This division will be fun to watch next year, every team has an established identity and should be very competitive.

NFC East: Cowboys are good, Giants are good, Redskins are good, Eagles are good. This division should also be competitive next year, but in the end I think the Giants will win it.

NFC West: Cardinals are getting rusty but are all set, Rams are developing their starter, Seahawks are good. The only team that is not so good just so happens to be the San Francisco 49ers. As of right now, the 49ers only have two Quarterbacks on their roster. Those quarterbacks are both former members of the Chicago Bears, Brian Hoyer, and Matt Barkley. Both were backups to Jay Cutler, and both have solid backup ability. They also have enough talent to start, but it would be more beneficial for the 49ers to find another quarterback to be the starter at the beginning of the season. In reality, the 49ers would be the right team for the Kaepernick to go to. Unfortunately, that is just wildly unrealistic due to the manner in which he left the team.

Colin Kaepernick will most likely not get a job in the NFL any time soon. There simply aren’t many openings in the league, and where there are, especially in places like Houston and San Francisco, there isn’t a whole lot of ways Kaep would be able to fit the teams. If anything, I would have to say Kaepernick’s best option would be Chicago, but even the Bears seem pretty set in using Glennon as their starter. Take all of this into account, and then realize that the NFL Draft has yet to occur, it seems like Kaepernick’s opportunities are slowly becoming less available. Between his gameplay the past two years and his off-the-field distractions, there isn’t a whole lot that he brings to any team’s table.

Written by Rick Wronski