Commentary: Titans Should Give Kaepernick a Try
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans should be the ones. They should sign Colin Kaepernick.
Not to make any sort of social statement. Not to do commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL headquarters any favors. Not to attract the national spotlight that so often ignores them.
They should do it because they need an experienced backup quarterback. And Kaepernick is available – as he has been for quite some time.
This is the time, once again, to think of Colin Kaepernick as a football player, and in that regard, he potentially offers the Titans much more than what they currently have as insurance against an injury to starter Ryan Tannehill.
Kaepernick has played 68 regular-season games in his NFL career. That is 68 more than Logan Woodside and rookie Cole McDonald (the only quarterbacks beside Tannehill on Tennessee’s roster) combined. He also was the starting quarterback for a team that played in the Super Bowl one season (2012) and reached the conference championship the next (2013). Even Tannehill doesn’t have that degree of postseason experience.
When last he played, Kaepernick was listed at 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, which gives him a size advantage over the two current backups, plus he had the ability to make things happen with his feet (2,300 career rushing yards). Late last season, the Titans found ways to get Marcus Mariota on the field with Tannehill in an occasional stress-the-defense the package. The similarities in style between Mariota and Kaepernick would allow them to keep that section of the playbook in use.
Of course, if the Titans did sign Colin Kaepernick it would attract national attention and it would generate some negative reaction from the fan base. To think otherwise would be folly. He’s been far too polarizing a figure for far too long.
Coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Jon Robinson have shown they can take the heat. They faced it a little more than a year ago when they drafted Jeffery Simmons, who had an off-the-field incident in his past that led some teams to consider him undraftable. Vrabel and Robinson did not hide from the issue. They did not downplay it. They addressed it. They owned it. And they made their thoughts clear, all of which ensured that it was not an issue that lingered into the season.
They could do the same with Kaepernick.
And to be certain: Yes, Kaepernick would bring the NFL players protest movement front and center at Nissan Stadium, but the situation is going to be the same all across the league this fall. Players recently forced Goodell to support their right to protest, which he did, and those players have made it clear they intend todo exactly that.
No doubt, some fans are bound to consider the move (if it happened) a breach of trust and turn away from the Titans. That is reality in these highly politicized times and the prevailing political bent in this part of the country is clear. A recent sportsinsider.com study of social media activity determined that Tennessee was fifth among states that are most supportive of an NFL boycott based on players peacefully protesting during the national anthem, the act for Kaepernick is most associated. Alabama was sixth.
What fans want more from their teams more than anything, though, are wins, thrills, memories. The Titans provided plenty of each last season with their run to the AFC Championship game and look like a team that could do the same this year. Those who have waited a long time for Tennessee once again to become a championship contender would have to think long and hard about whether they want to allow a political issue to drive them away at a time such as this.
Which brings us back to football.
There is no guarantee that Kaepernick can still play the game. He is 32 years old, basically the same age as Tannehill, but he has not been in the league since 2016. The good news is that he has not taken the physical pounding that comes with the sport, but he also has not been able to hone his skills and his mind to make the precise movements and quick decisions that are necessary at his position. Let’s also not forget that in his last two seasons he was 3-16 as a starter in the middle of a disastrous period for the San Francisco 49ers (four head coaches in four seasons).
If it was certain that Kaepernick could still play the game as he once did, the decision to sign him would be an easy one. That’s not the case.
Still, the Titans should do it because it has the potential to make them better. What better reason could there be?
