The real reason Colin Kaepernick is not signed to an NFL team

The real reason Colin Kaepernick is not signed to an NFL team right now? It’s not because of his political affiliations or National Anthem pose…

Whatever your opinion is of Colin Kaepernick as a human being, I don’t really care. Kaepernick has made plenty of news over the course of the last year by going public with some of his personal beliefs, using the platform he’s been given as an NFL player to go to a knee during the National Anthem.

Kaepernick’s message received mixed reviews to be certain, but he definitely got people talking. Not everyone is going to agree with what I have to say here, because everyone loves a great victim story, but Colin Kaepernick is no victim.

The NFL has not blacklisted Kaepernick, at least they haven’t to the best of my knowledge.

The NFL and the teams within the league are not all conspiring to keep Kaepernick out of the league, nor do I think his kneeling during the National Anthem will cost him a job. If that were the case, why are the 49ers still employing Eric Reid, who kneeled beside Kaepernick?

Why are the Denver Broncos still employing Brandon Marshall, who was Kaepernick’s teammate at Nevada for a brief time?

If the reason for Kaepernick being unsigned at this point is because he decided to kneel during the National Anthem last season (which he has said he will not be doing this year…), then there’s a pretty obvious double standard happening in the league today.

I do not believe that Kaepernick is unsigned at the time of this writing because of his political stance or personal beliefs. I also do not believe Kaepernick remains unsigned for lack of ability.

This is a young quarterback that was once one of the NFL’s rising superstars. He helped lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl berth, where they were narrowly defeated by the Baltimore Ravens. He was nearly the centerpiece of the biggest trade in the NFL last offseason when John Elway and the Denver Broncos hosted him and attempted to acquire him.

In fact, as of last offseason, the Broncos had made an offer to the 49ers for Kaepernick, and a contract proposal to the quarterback. Kaepernick is the one who reportedly rejected it.

After watching him play this past season in relief of Blaine Gabbert — that’s not an unimportant detail, either — Kaepernick played pretty well overall. It wasn’t the spectacular play we saw earlier in his career, but it wasn’t the worst we’ve seen from him either.

Kaepernick threw 16 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions this past season, and had a quarterback rating of 90.7. Those aren’t bad numbers, but the 49ers were so bad, Kaepernick gets the blame by association.

The former second round pick out of Nevada also added a pair of rushing touchdowns last year, and looked capable of starting in this league or at least being a top backup, so why in the you-know-what is he not signed at this point?

As is typically the case in the NFL, every ‘market’ waits on specific players, or the biggest dominoes, to fall. In today’s NFL, the biggest domino that has yet to fall is Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys.

I won’t be ignorant and pretend like personal preference plays literally no part in Kaepernick’s free agent pursuits, but I hate to burst the bubble here — it’s not going to prevent an NFL team from bringing him in.

The entire QB market is being held up by Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, and the stubborn Dallas Cowboys.

The richest quarterback contract signed so far this offseason is Mike Glennon with the Chicago Bears, making an average of $15 million per season. If you want an interesting argument of why Kaepernick hasn’t been signed yet, try to find reasons to justify that one.

Aside from Glennon’s ridiculously dumb contract from the Bears, the highest paid quarterbacks on this year’s market (on annual average) are Brian Hoyer, Josh McCown, and Nick Foles.

Also known as backups.

The starting QB market waits on Romo, because no one knows what the fallout will be after that. We could open up a whole can of worms here, discussing the possibilities if Tony Romo were to sign with the Denver Broncos or Houston Texans. If he signs in Denver, do the Broncos then trade Trevor Siemian?

Where would Siemian wind up? Could he wind up in Cleveland? If not Cleveland, would the Browns sign Kaepernick? After all, they had interest last offseason…

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What happens to Jay Cutler? Is Cutler currently being blacklisted by the NFL? Last time I checked, Cutler has just as much ability to be a starter in the NFL when healthy as Kaepernick or anyone else on the market.

Other guys that have started games in this league — Robert Griffin III, Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Blaine Gabbert, and even top backup Chase Daniel — remain unsigned at this point in the process.

The fact of the matter is, NFL teams don’t know what’s happening with half of the quarterback market, because teams are waiting on Dallas to make the first move. Kaepernick’s eventual job might not even be open yet…

You can argue all day that politics and personal beliefs make all the difference with Kaepernick, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. The biggest fish on the QB market has yet to be fried, and Kaepernick — just like some of the other veteran quarterbacks that could start for NFL teams — is being forced to wait out the market.

To me, it’s nothing more than that.

Kaepernick is a good person with good intentions, who can still be an asset to an NFL team. If his ability were not there, teams might decide he wasn’t worth the risk. Kaepernick will get a call, and it will probably be sooner rather than later.

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