Colin Kaepernick ‘Starter for 5 NFL Teams,’ Claims PFT - So Why Not Dak Prescott Cowboys Backup?
FRISCO - Colin Kaepernick represents an NFL version of “The Great Unknown.”
So given the fact he hasn't taken an NFL snap since the 2016 season - and regardless of who you blame for that - how can anyone pretend to “know” “The Great Unknown”?
Kaepernick, a center of controversy to some and a heroic leaders to others, had a workout this week with the Las Vegas Raiders. The session suggests the possibility of a career re-build for the QB, who was essentially blackballed from the NFL due to his outspokenness on social issues.
But Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is telling us, reportorially, that Kaep should not only be in the NFL …
He would be starting for a number of teams.
And if that's true - if he's better than a collection of first-teamers - does it stand to reason that he's also better than journeymen No. 2 QBs, like Dak Prescott's Dallas Cowboys backup Cooper Rush?
Writes Florio: "Colin Kaepernick, with time to knock off the rust and prepare, would be better than any option the Seahawks, Panthers, and Texans currently have. He'd be better than any QB (sorry TuAnon) that the Dolphins currently have. He'd possibly win the job in Atlanta, too."
It’s not that Florio is necessarily wrong about Kaepernick; it’s the media personality’s matter-of-fact (sprinkled with snark) assertion of Kaep vs. other QBs that presents a problem:
How does Florio know what he claims to know?
Maybe he's biased. Maybe he's grandstanding. Or ... Maybe he has actual football people who’ve told him this, and he’s the filter for good info. That’s fine: But I’ve spoken to scouting people from three teams this week on the subject and none of the three, from a football perspective, agrees with Florio.
As one NFC scout told me, “I happen to be supportive of Kaep’s position. He got screwed (by the blackball). But he’s a more of a good athlete and good leader than he is an ‘obvious’ starting quarterback.”
Kaep himself has simply said, "I'll help you win.'' He should believe that. He might not be wrong.
Kaepernick, 34, had 2,241 passing yards and 16 touchdowns in his last season with the San Francisco 49ers. He was mobile and charismatic, and those traits likely remain. But the idea that he’d obviously beat out Houston’s Davis Mills (the Texans do not agree), Atlanta’s Marcus Mariota and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa?
It’s a noteworthy claim about Kaepernick. But it’s not a worthy fact about Kaepernick.
And the same even applies to Kaep in Dallas? Is there an argument to be made that he might "help you win'' more than Dak backup Cooper Rush? Even once we plow beyond the supposed "controversy'' and the alleged "distraction,'' PFT and the rest of us can argue about a maybe.
But journalistically, we cannot argue definitively about what Colin Kaepernick can do. Because he's "The Great Unknown.''
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