The New York Giants aren’t likely to exercise quarterback Daniel Jones’ fifth-year option this spring and that has led to speculation on whether or not they are souring on their former first-round pick.
What the Giants are expected to do however, is bring in competition this summer in the form of free agents (Mitchell Trubisky, Cam Newton have been rumored) and/or a possible high draft pick to challenge Jones, who has yet to convince the masses that he is a franchise quarterback.
One interesting option on the free agent market is — wait for it — Colin Kaepernick, who is said to be working out again and is in “the best shape of his life.”
Colin Kaepernick is still working out and is said to be, in the words of one source, “in the best shape of his life. He wants to play. He’s ready play. He would be a great fit for teams with QB vacancies to fill who want to win a Super Bowl.” https://t.co/VAXfKlZ6E4
It’s unlikely the Giants would entertain Kaepernick as an option, even as a backup, for several reasons.
The fan base would reject the idea. Even though it’s been five years since Kaepernick set off a maelstrom in the NFL (and the country) by kneeling during the National Anthem before games, his name will be eternally connected to the controversy.
Second, CEO John Mara wasn’t on board then and isn’t likely to have softened much to the idea over time.
“All my years being in the league, I never received more emotional mail from people than I did about that issue,” Mara said back in 2017. “If any of your players ever do that, we are never coming to another Giants game. It wasn’t one or two letters. It was a lot. It’s an emotional, emotional issue for a lot of people, more so than any other issue I’ve run into.”
The controversy would be the last thing this floundering franchise needs. They need to get back to basics, fly under the radar and turn their listing ship around. Kaepernick’s presence would be a major distraction on many fronts.
Then there’s the issue of rust. The 34-year-old Kaepernick may be in great shape but he’s been out of football since 2016. There’s shape and then there’s football shape. Plus, how would he react to being a backup? He clearly wants to be a starter or nothing.
Finally, the financial cost would be too high. Kaepernick is a businessman and won’t come cheap. He has turned down some lucrative offers in the past and isn’t likely to take a low-level deal simply to gat back into the league.
The Carson Wentz trade between the Indianapolis Colts and the Washington Commanders tells us alot about that class of quarterbacks, though, so the Seahawks may not be able to find a suitable potential long-term successor to Wilson this offseason – even if Liberty’s Malik Willis is there at No. 9.
One name that often gets overlooked in these situations is former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who hasn’t played since the 2016 season after being blackballed by the NFL over his social justice protests.
Kaepernick shared a workout video yesterday, renewing the conversation about his viability as a QB in this league. One person who thinks Kaepernick shouldn’t give up on playing is Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who shared these words of encouragement.
Not even two years ago, Seattle was second behind Baltimore as far as the best odds to sign Kaepernick.
Pete Carroll has flirted with the idea but has copped out by claiming Kaepernick is a starter and the Seahawks have one already.
Well, that’s not the case anymore.
Seahawks fans should be as familiar with the flaws of Kaepernick’s game about as well as anyone, but they might also have a skewed picture of his abilities.
While Kaepernick had a very difficult time against the peak Legion of Boom Seattle teams he faced (many quarterbacks did), he performed well against the rest of the league. If you break down Kaepernick’s splits against the Seahawks compared to the rest, the picture becomes even clearer.
In eight games against Seattle he went just 2-6, posting a 55.61 completion rate, three touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 63.7 passer rating.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick’s overall career numbers are far more respectable. In 58 starts he went 28-30, impressive considering the roster implosion and general incompetence of the Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly years. He’s at a 59.8% completion percentage, has a 72-30 touchdown to interception ratio and a passer rating of 88.9.
This was a few years before Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Kyler Murray were around, but Kaepernick was also right up there with Cam Newton as far as contenders for best-rushing-QB in the NFL. He totaled 2,300 yards and 13 touchdowns on just 375 carries.
At his best, Kaepernick helped the Niners win several big playoff games – including a few epic victories over the Packers. He came a few yards short of winning a Super Bowl against a brilliant Ravens team.
Say whatever you want about Kaepernick’s age (34) or the fact that he hasn’t played the last five seasons. He still deserves a chance more than a lot of quarterbacks currently in the league, including Drew Lock.
Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016, but he hasn’t given up hope of landing a job. Kaepernick on Thursday posted a video on Twitter of himself going through a QB workout with the caption “Still working.” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Kaepernick is staying in shape and still eyeing a job in the NFL.
With less than a week to go until free agency begins it makes sense that Kaepernick would put out an alert now that he’s still working toward getting back into the league. There are several teams still looking for quarterbacks and a fairly thin free agent market at that spot. Not to mention what’s believed to be a relatively weak QB class in this year’s draft.
It seems like the ship has sailed on Kaepernick ever playing in the NFL again, but if there was ever a time for him to get back in, this offseason seems as good as any.
Kaepernick, 34, was a second-round pick of the 49ers in 2011. His final season was in 2016 when he made national headlines by kneeling to protest police brutality during the national anthem. Over his six seasons he went 28-30 in 58 starts with a 59.8 percent completion rate, 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. Kaepernick twice led the 49ers to the playoffs with one Super Bowl appearance and another trip to the NFC championship game.
Brian Flores, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has spent the last couple of weeks interviewing for head coaching positions with multiple teams. As the search has gone on, Flores felt that there were some issues with the process that led him to file a lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams on Tuesday.
On an episode of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” Tony Kornheiser asked Michael Wilbon his reaction to the Flores situation, and Wilbon compared it to another alleged issue of racial injustice that the league saw just a few years ago.
“It was straight to Colin Kaepernick,” Flores said. “It was straight to Brian Flores, God bless him for doing this, this takes courage. This takes sacrifice. Flores is not some dummy. He knows that if he goes up against the NFL, legally with a class action suit, we’ve seen how evil the NFL can be. This basically takes him out of play for being an NFL coach like it took Colin Kaepernick out of play for being an NFL quarterback.”
Kaepernick filed a grievance in 2017 that accused the league of colluding to keep him out of the league after he went unsigned in the offseason following his decision to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustices. While Kaepernick and the league settled, the quarterback never took another snap in the NFL.
Wilbon is right. Flores may never be the head coach of a team again, and the coach has acknowledged that in his own statement.
The Ava DuVernay-produced biopic delivers a powerful look at racism in America.
Five years and a few months after Colin Kaepernick first took a knee and changed the course of America’s discourse on race, he tells his story. In the Netflix series Colin in Black & White, out Friday, Kaepernick and co-creator Ava DuVernay meticulously present a recreation of the exiled quarterback’s formative high school years interspersed with documentary-style snippets about America’s formative years — and the racism underpinning them.
It’s impossible to not see this limited series biopic as a direct answer to many of the questions that arose after Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem. What is he so mad about? How can a pro athlete making millions really believe he’s been subjected to racism? Sports are the ultimate meritocracy, and he made it to where everyone wants to be so how, exactly, could he have the audacity to complain?
Though Kaepernick’s experiences — and how he’s been able to process them in these subsequent years by understanding the history of Black people here — are diligently presented, it is also impossible to believe that any of the people asking those questions will bother to watch, let alone be swayed, because it is impossible to believe that they ever asked those questions in earnest. That may be a cynical view but also an unavoidable one, as politicians across the country attempt to erase whatever they’ve decided Critical Race Theory is.
Well, it is this. Or at least this is a palatable version of it, in micro, packaged with a side of sports and teen drama. The six episodes, each about 30 minutes long, are narrated by present-day Kaepernick. He has been elusive over the years, avoiding cameras and interviews and never appearing to truly desire to be the voice of a movement for which he was already the face.
Now, he’s ready.
There are scenes from Colin in Black & White that might jar some white people, particularly the opening of the series when football players lining up to be measured at the NFL combine are transformed into slaves being sold at market. But Kaepernick shows little rage over the need to explain what he shouldn’t have to. He is patient, sincere.
His high school journey is undertaken by the actor Jaden Michael, who manages to capture Kaepernick’s bewilderment over going from the adopted son of white parents to a Black man in a conservative part of California, while also delivering the burgeoning confidence that would later manifest in bicep-kiss celebrations that so irked certain fans once Kaepernick reached the NFL.
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His parents are portrayed by Mary-Louise Parker and Nick Offerman. They aren’t always rounded characters, but they serve a purpose; though mostly well-meaning, Parker is consistently startled by the idea that having a Black child could be so different from having a white one, while Offerman seems largely doubtful than anything of the like might be the case because America and freedom and God and what not. In other words, they represent the white people who cannot fathom the idea that they could be racist — we have a Black son! — because they have the privilege of not even having to considering their own privilege. They try new recipes and set up dates for Colin with acceptable girls and feel good about the troops and do everything except consider how a country that flourished through slavery later refined that racism into something less overt but almost as effective.
Colin figures all that out on his own. We see him getting cornrows for the first time, an homage to Allen Iverson, and also see how his white coaches recoil to the point that he opts instead to assimilate. We see those white coaches deploy age-old stereotypes as Kaepernick pushes to play quarterback and is beaten out by an inferior white player: “I need to know my quarterback has full command of the offense,” one says, “And Johnson? He’s the prototype I’m looking for.”
Young Colin experiences microaggressions — is surrounded by them — but also begins to meet other Black people and learn about a culture that had been not only hidden from him but dubbed unseemly, unsophisticated.
Colin in Black & White also tells the story of Kaepernick’s quest to become a quarterback, showing his inability to secure a Division I scholarship offer until after his senior season had ended. In the face of intense pressure to play baseball — the show offers a broad indictment of that sport’s culture — he never relents from his dream. “Being a quarterback isn’t an option for me, it’s in my blood,” he says at one point.
The series ends with Colin on his way to play football at Nevada, with a narrative trick showing an elder Colin writing a letter to him in which he repeats over and over, “Trust your power.”
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
“You will earn the title of quarterback at the highest level,” Kaepernick narrates as he writes. “You will be a trailblazer.
“But while you focus on becoming a quarterback, something else will be happening. Something extraordinary. Something that you can feel, but don’t have the words or wisdom to articulate. You will learn to love who you are and not give a damn that who you are makes some people uncomfortable. You will know that no matter how much people try to control you, that they cannot break you. You will learn to find beauty in places where the world tells you there is none. And, because of these things, you will know when people try to tell you when and where to be a quarterback, it doesn’t matter. Because you will see, you are more than a quarterback. Much more.”
DuVernay has been doing this work for years now, with Selma and 13th and When They See Us, and she was the right choice to help Kaepernick tell this part of his story. He’s only just beginning; his publishing house has release a chidlren’s book and, earlier this month, Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future with Policing & Prisons.
But now he has explained this part of his life, divulging the source of his pain — at one point his parents hide a picture of him because his Black date is so dark-skinned — while trying to explain how much playing quarterback, a job he would later give up to make a point, actually meant to him.
For many people, Kaepernick came into existence the moment they saw him kneeling, or heard a presidential candidate rail against him or TV pundits exclaim he was attacking the country and the people who love and protect it.
Now, for the record, there is more to the story.
Even the most obvious questions have been answered.
To those who gasped at a man dropping to one knee at the moment they thought he should have stood in unity, here is further explanation.
If only they bother to watch and listen, this time.
The legendary Jaguars receiver said that Tebow will be a positive presence to the team as someone with a strong love for the city.
With the Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly finalizing a deal to bring on Tim Tebow as a tight end, the attention of many current and former players has returned to another former NFL quarterback who hasn’t been able to get an opportunity in a while. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick hasn’t appeared on a roster since he knelt during the national anthem as a form of protest against racial injustice.
With Tebow getting another chance, many have been quick to point out that Kaepernick is still waiting on that opportunity despite having a more productive football career than Tebow.
But legendary Jaguars receiver Jimmy Smith loves the Tebow addition, telling TMZ Sports that he will bring a positive change to the franchise.
“We need a guy like Tim Tebow,” Smith said, “who’s a hometown hero who has love for the city anyway. He’s going to be a great support for Trevor Lawrence. Whatever capacity that is, it’s going to be a positive rather than a negative.
“I pray that he makes the 53-man roster, because we need all we can get.”On the discussions about Kaepernick, Smith said he didn’t think the Jaguars should have signed him, saying he would “divide (the) locker room.”
“We don’t need Colin Kaepernick on our team,” he said.
The comparison between Tebow and Kaepernick is, to say the least, a bit of an apples to oranges one, especially in the context of Jacksonville’s offseason plans. It desperately needed help at tight end, and given Meyer’s extensive relationship with Tebow, this move is far from a surprising one.
Meanwhile, the team just invested the first overall pick in a quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, and the three other quarterbacks on the roster all started multiple games in 2020.
However, it’s hard to ignore the irony in Smith’s statement that Kaepernick would be a divisive presence considering that, according to reporting from ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, the decision to sign Tebow has in fact divided some members of the team.
But there’s no denying what Smith said is true with regard to Tebow having love for the city and being a bit of a hometown hero. Having someone like that on the roster could definitely have an impact on fan interest, but for the team’s sake, hopefully, it doesn’t come at the cost of roster unity.
If Brett Favre thinks that sports are too political, and that athletes shouldn’t speak out, perhaps he should take his own advice.
Let’s get the obvious preamble about Brett Favre being one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history out of the way, because it’s obviously true and it has no bearing on Favre’s current views beyond the fact that he still gets to air them publicly despite the fact that he hasn’t played a down of professional football since January 2, 2011.
And of course, Favre has the right to his political leanings, whatever they may be. It’s just a shame he doesn’t want those he disagrees with to have that same right. On a recent episode of “The Andrew Klavan Show,” on The Daily Wire, Favre made it abundantly clear that in his mind, politics and sports should just never mix.
“I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch a game. I want to watch players play and teams win, lose, come from behind,” Favre said. “I want to watch all the important parts of the game, not what’s going on outside of the game, and I think the general fan feels the same way,
“I can’t tell you how many people, have said to me, ‘I don’t watch anymore, it’s not about the game anymore,’ and I tend to agree.”
Well, perhaps. But this is the same Brett Favre who said last October that he would vote for Donald Trump, and would appear on Trump’s behalf as a rally in Green Bay. Favre also made his political preferences known on social media.
My Vote is for what makes this country great, freedom of speech & religion, 2nd Amnd, hard working tax paying citizens, police & military. In this election, we have freedom of choice, which all should respect. For me & these principles, my Vote is for @RealDonaldTrump. #Vote ☑️🇺🇸
And since at least last August, Favre has been talking about NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem.
“I know from being in an NFL locker room for 20 years, regardless of race, background, money you grew up with, we were all brothers it didn’t matter,” Favre said. “Guys got along great. Will that be the same (with kneeling)? I don’t know. If one guy chooses to stand for his cause and another guy chooses to kneel for his cause, is one right and the other wrong? I don’t believe so. We tend to be fixed on highs.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be Black. It’s not for me to say what’s right and what’s wrong. I do know we should all be treated equal. If you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be in America.”
Clearly, Favre’s feelings on the subject have moved from antipathy to outright offense. When asked why it was okay for him to publicly support Trump, but not okay for other current and former athletes to express their own political beliefs, Favre said that the controversary was very lopsided and kneeling for the anthem has “created more turmoil, than good.”
“It’s really a shame that we’ve come to this,” he said. “Something has to unify us, and I felt like the flag, standing patriotically — because Blacks and whites and Hispanics have fought for this country and died for this country. It’s too bad.”
Sports have always been political. And Colin Kaepernick, the first NFL player to kneel for the anthem, was inspired to do so by Nate Boyer, a former Green Beret. It was Boyer who suggested to Kaepernick that if he wanted to make a statement about the things he found distasteful about America, he should kneel at the same level with his teammates as opposed to just sitting on the bench.
“I was showing that I support his right to do that, I support the message behind what he’s demonstrating for,” Boyer said in 2018, one season after Kaepernick was first mysteriously unable to find employment in the NFL. “But I’m also standing with pride because I feel differently in a lot of ways too. But there’s nothing wrong with feeling differently and believing different things. We can still work together to make this place better.”
So, when we say that Kaepernick’s actions are disrespectful to the military, or that the actions of other athletes make sports less interesting or enjoyable to watch, maybe we’re just trying to superimpose our own political beliefs onto the entire structure.
And in Brett Favre’s case, if he wants everybody to Shut Up and Dribble, so to speak, perhaps he should heed his own advice. It’s not right for Favre to say that his political outspokenness is just fine, and the contrasting beliefs of others represent some sort of societal problem. We have more than enough of that in this country already.
Either speak out or shut up — that’s your right either way. What is not your right is the automatic clampdown of those opinions, beliefs, and gestures you don’t agree with. If we all love America, and if we all believe in democracy, that’s kind of what it’s all about.
The Baltimore Ravens second Super Bowl victory was dubbed 5th best of the last two decades and even that might be underselling it.
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will headline Super Bowl LV. In celebration of yet another champion being crowned, List Wire ranked every Super Bowl over the last 20 years. While the Ravens are naturally featured twice on the list, having won twice over that timespan, it’s Super Bowl XLVII that got the blood pumping.
According to Barry Werner of List Wire, Baltimore beating the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII ranks fifth. It’s easy to see why when Werner breaks down the basic story of the game.
“The Ravens were a force and then there was a blackout that turned an apparent easy victory into a nail-biter. Baltimore boasted a tremendous defense that had all sorts of issues with Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers.”
Come on, that’s something you’d expect to see in a movie or made-for-TV special. The Ravens had gotten to a 28-6 lead early in the third quarter thanks to a Jacoby Jones 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. But a power issue caused the stadium to go dark for more than 30 minutes, ultimately seeing the 49ers rally in the second half to put the victor in question. As we all know, Baltimore prevailed, beating San Francisco 34-31 to claim their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
While the game itself was magical and full of twists and turns, the lead up to it was somehow even better.
The Ravens hadn’t been great throughout the regular season, finishing with a 10-6 record to squeak into the playoffs. But, between linebacker Ray Lewis announcing he’d retire at the conclusion of the season and quarterback Joe Flacco having arguably the greatest postseason in NFL history, Baltimore seemingly had everything fall in their favor in what can only be described as a Cinderella story.
The Ravens got matched up with Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts in the wild-card round, giving Lewis one final home game before riding off into the sunset. Up 24-9 in the closing minutes of the game, Lewis lined up at running back while Baltimore was in victory formation, doing his famous squirrel dance to close out his career at M&T Bank Stadium to the cheers of the crowd.
With one game down, the Ravens were matched up against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in the divisional round. It would take double-overtime and a miracle to get the job done, however. Down seven points in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, Flacco heaved a pass to Jacoby Jones just over the outstretched arms of safety Rahim Moore, seeing him streak into the end zone untouched for an improbable 70-yard touchdown pass that has since been dubbed “The Mile High Miracle.” Kicker Justin Tucker put the final nail in the coffin after a Corey Graham interception gave Baltimore the ball in Denver territory, nailing a 47-yard field goal to win, 38-35, in double overtime.
Now in the AFC Championship, the Ravens needed to go through a familiar foe in Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It was a rematch of the AFC Championship Game from a year prior that saw New England barely edge out Baltimore, 23-20. This time, however, there would be no Brady heroics. After a tight first half, the Ravens’ defense ratcheted things up in the second half, forcing four turnovers (including a turnover on downs). Meanwhile, Flacco and the offense feasted, putting up 21 unanswered points to win 28-13 to head to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII.
Though other Super Bowls were ranked higher, the playoff storylines and the big game itself make the Ravens’ run something special. It’s certainly one Baltimore will never forget.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson becomes second QB to rush for 100-yards and a rush touchdown in a playoff game.
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is known for breaking records and creating ones of his own in the NFL and has the resume to prove it. On Sunday he not only won his first playoff game, Jackson hit a rushing milestone that only goes to prove how electric he is on the field.
Jackson became the second quarterback to rush for at least 100 yards and have a rushing touchdown in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. With 136 rushing yards against the Tennessee Titans, Jackson joins former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the only two quarterbacks to do so.
Jackson also produced the second-longest touchdown run by a quarterback in the playoffs. Jackson found the end zone on a 48-yard highlight-reel touchdown run before halftime to tie the game and ultimately give the Ravens momentum when they desperately needed it. Jackson trails behind Kaepernick who rushed for a 56-yard touchdown against the Green Bay Packers in the 2013 NFC divisional round of the playoffs.
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Jackson has produced one of the most incredible starts to an NFL career. Expect the former NFL MVP to continue using his legs to put his name alongside the game’s greats.
