Sports Time Radio

I’m sure by now you’ve heard, seen or read that the National Football League has changed it’s stance on players kneeling during the national anthem. It should com as no surprise that the media has been attacking the NFL for not going with this decision as soon as the kneeling started. Now let’s face it no matter what the NFL would’ve decided either at the beginning of this or now with making a change the media would’ve attacked them for one thing or another.

I’m not sure why, but the NFL has always been a target of the media. I’m under the impression the media goes after them because they are the most popular sport in America and someone media member wants to make a name for themselves by trying to take them down. To be fair the NFL hasn’t always made the best decisions on major issues, but now they seem to be doing what everyone wanted them to do in the first place and they still can’t win.

With the NFL under attack their has been one odd thing that quite a few media members have jumped on and I just don’t understand. I’ve heard multiple talking heads on sports television say that the NFL owes Colin Kaepernik a job and that’s something I just can’t buy.

Kaepernick played his last game on January 1st of 2017; so he’s almost three and a half years removed from playing in the NFL. He is still young at 32 years old, but remember he lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert back in 2017. Yes, he did lead a team to a Super Bowl appearance, but if you subtract that 12-4 season from his record he’s 16-26 as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Now as we know quarterbacks get too much credit when a team wins and too much blame when a team loses, but if you’re going to hold other quarterbacks to this Kaepernick has to be held accountable as well.

Don’t forget that their have been teams that have shown some interest in signing Kaepernick, but went in a different direction for one reason or another. The NFL even set up a tryout for him, but it seemed as though he looked at it as a conspiracy and made a bunch of changes to his tryout last minute. Even if it was a conspiracy almost every NFL team was going to be in attendance for that tryout, but after the changes he made to it a lot of teams declined to travel to the new tryout location and he lost out on a lot of teams getting a look at him.

I actually heard someone claim that if the Jacksonville Jaguars would’ve picked up Kaepernick they would’ve won the Super Bowl in the 2017/18 season. Okay; so let’s take a look at this.

Blake Bortles was the Jacksonville starting quarterback and he threw for 3687 yards with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing 60.2% of his passes. This was Bortles 4th season with Jacksonville and he had the advantage of working with  head coach Doug Marrone at the end of the 2016/17 season after he replaced Gus Bradley. Now one of Kaepernik’s strengths in running the football, but that season Bortles ran for 322 yards averaging 5.6 yards per carry and scored 2 touchdowns. Do you honestly see Kaepernik having a better season than Bortles did with just one training camp under his belt?

What you also have to remember is that Jacksonville found success that season by running the football. Jacksonville led the NFL with 2262 yards that season and they where 2nd in rushing touchdowns with 18.

It’s easy to look back and say they would’ve won a Super Bowl, but remember they lost to the lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game and while it was a close game (24-20); do you buy that Kaepernick at quarterback gets Jacksonville a win?

Now before you start calling me names and saying that I’m against Kaepernick that would mean you’ve never listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast where I’ve advocated for teams to sign him. I have no problem with a team signing Kaepernick, but it shouldn’t have to be forced. If a team believes that he’s the best options as maybe a back up quarterback then they should certainly sign him regardless of how it might be looked at.

There have been some people who think that the Seattle Seahawks should be the team that signs Kaepernick and he could be a good fit as Russell Wilson’s back up. I also saw someone insist that the New England Patriots sign him, but these people seem to forget that there’s still a quarterback by the name of Cam Newton available and there are probably a few teams that would take Newton over Kaepernick if they had to make the choice. In all honesty I would be much happier if the Chicago Bears where headed into the 2020/21 season with either Newton or Kaepernick at quarterback instead of Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles competing for the starting quarterback job. Of course both Foles and Trubisky have experience in the style of offense Matt Nagy runs and I’m guessing that’s why they’re here.

It’s time for you to weigh in and tell me what you think. Does the NFL own Colin Kaepernick a job? Do you think will see him on an NFL team this coming season? If you do think that he’ll be in the NFL; which team do you see him signing with? If Kaepernick does sign with an NFL team; do you see him as a back up quarterback? Or do you think there’s a team out their he could start for? It’s an interesting conversation to have and I’d like to know your thoughts.

Don’t forget that the Sports Time Radio podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you somehow miss the podcast live all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen anytime you want.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime