Baltimore Ravens Owner Is Lone Man Stopping Kaepernick Deal
By Erik Lambert
It is becoming somewhat baffling why the Baltimore Ravens don’t sign Colin Kaepernick. It just makes so much sense in logical terms.
Joe Flacco is banged up. Their list of backups isn’t inspiring, headlined by Ryan Mallet. Given the expectations for this team in 2017, they can’t afford a big setback at quarterback. Especially since they are the running football team they were five years ago. Thus the calls have gone out to do the obvious things. Bite the bullet and sign Kaepernick. Sure the media coverage would be tough to handle at first, but over time it wouldn’t be a huge issue.
It’s not a hard sell. Kaepernick is still young and was effective to a degree in tough circumstances last year. He’s stayed out of trouble since being released by San Francisco. It seems the only thing people are getting hung up on was his national anthem kneeling controversy. So why haven’t the Ravens made a move?
Turns out there is some disagreement in their hierarchy over the idea.
Ravens HC John Harbaugh & GM Ozzie Newsome support signing Colin Kaepernick, but have met resistance from owner Steve Bisciotti per sources
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 2, 2017
Owners actively trying to block him?
This revelation would actually seem to back up a theory that has been making the rounds of late. One that says the NFL owners are collectively trying to blackball Kaepernick from coming back into the league. Adam Schefter of ESPN even confirmed that in an interview last week.
"“Do I think that certain owners have blocked teams from visits or interest? I do, I do believe that,” Schefter said. “And I think that there has been more interest in him from the coaching and front office level than there has been at the ownership level.”"
Why there is such fervor from the owners is unclear. Do they really think Kaepernick is that big of a distraction? Do they feel he’s a bad image for the game that could infect other players? It’s impossible to know for sure until somebody speaks. All that is known at this point is the Ravens have come closer than any other team to finally taking the veteran QB off the market.
If they don’t? It’s likely he may not get signed this year.