Alan Truex: A worse distraction than Kaepernick? Having no quarterback at all
Colin Kaepernick is more distracting being out of the NFL than he will be when he inevitably returns to it. By treating him as an untouchable, the league casts itself in glaring light. Whether by collusion or not, the owners appear to be punishing a talented athlete for expressing a controversial opinion.
It’s not good for the brand when 1,000 people converge on the New York office to protest the expulsion of a former Super Bowl quarterback who’s healthy and in his prime at 29 and has no criminal record.
Last season, without a supporting cast in San Francisco, Kaepernick ranked 18th among 33 qualifiers in passing efficiency. He was ahead of some of the highest-paid: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer, Joe Flacco.
For him to be unemployed – not even a third-stringer anywhere? – is an outrage that’s being denounced by players of all colors and uniform stripes. Aaron Rodgers, one of the sport’s uberstars, told ESPN Magazine: “I think he should be on a roster right now. I think because of his protests, he’s not.”
At a time when our President expresses views, almost daily, that disgust the majority of Americans, a football player cannot find employment because he sat or knelt during the National Anthem to protest — among other undesirable actions — the panicky shootings by police of innocent young black men.
So ours is the freest country in the world?
If a soccer player in Holland or France or Germany fails to stand for his nation’s fight song, will he lose his right to work?
The owners of NFL teams fear that if they sign Kaepernick, he will become a polarizing force in the locker room with his social activism. Fans will boycott while the team falls apart.
Of course, they’re being silly. The kneel-down is no longer shocking.
Dozens of pro footballers have adopted the practice or variations of it. College players are joining the teleprotest movement that Kaepernick started but has since abandoned. He will stand for the anthem if anyone allows him access to the field. He passed the torch of righteousness to others who accept the risk, with an eye toward history and legacy.
Meanwhile, the owners’ solidarity is cracking. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Shahid Khan promised that if his “football people” think Kaepernick would help his team, he “absolutely” will approve signing him.
Khan, who was born in Pakistan but made a fortune as an American entrepreneur, is not the first owner you’d expect to endorse the hiring of Kaepernick. Khan is a registered Republican and a major contributor to fellow business tycoon Donald Trump. Khan donated $1 million to his inauguration.
Trump said it was three million.
Just joking. Trump did not say that. I can never resist a cheap shot
The point is that Khan represents a surprising but welcomed intersection of Make America Great Again and Black Lives Matter. How about Make America Free Again?
If the Jaguars have no use for Kaepernick, who could? Will he be forever shunned like a message-peddling less-gifted quarterback from the Christian right, Tim Tebow?
A team whose starting quarterback is Blake Bortles is in desperate need of someone else. Pretty much anyone with a couple of regular-season starts on his resume who is not named Osweiler.
Incredibly, Bortles was the top-rated quarterback in the 2014 NFL Draft. He went No. 3 overall, while the more talented, more polished Derek Carr lasted into Round 2.
The Cleveland Browns chose the wild and irresponsible Johnny Manziel in mid- first round, instead of the quiet, reliable Carr, who threw 28 TDs, 6 INT last year for Oakland.
The Houston Texans passed on Carr because of baggage left by his brother David, first overall in 2002. A leadership deficiency was exposed when Roger Carr often picked up his son at practice, as if this were middle school. Texans general manager Rick Smith thought there was something in the Carr DNA.
The Jaguars thought their marketing department could make millions with Bortles, who was almost a homeboy, schooled at Central Florida. A bigger factor in Bortles’ appeal was his bigness: 6-5, 236. He has a strong arm and runs well.
But he also has traits typical of draft busts. When he was in college everyone saw an unwieldy throwing motion, making him overly prone to sacks and picks. They’d seen the same flaw in Tebow, David Carr and Brock Osweiler. Some see it in Southern Cal’s Heisman hopeful, Sam Darnold.
The Jaguars thought Bortles could be coached out of his mechanical flaws, even though their head coach was Gus Bradley.
Near the end of last season they belatedly canned Bradley, whose top hand, Doug Marrone, inherited interim responsibility. Marrone became full-time when he was credited for Bortles not tossing a pick in two garbage-time games.
The Marronic combination is no longer working, if it ever really did. The Jags’ receivers are frustrated, if not demoralized. The most telling moment of the preseason: Bortles overthrows Allen Robinson on the sideline, and microphones pick up the team’s No.1 receiver muttering: “Keep your shit in bounds.”
It’s being said in Jacksonville that the obstacle to signing Kaepernick is fuddy duddy Tom Coughlin, who oversees Marrone and prefers traditional pocket passers to scramblers. But it’s also true that Coughlin coached Jacksonville to the playoffs four straight years in the ‘90s with a running passer, Mark Brunell.
This is a time for flexibility. On the football field, off it. Everywhere.
Coughlin should say, like the Mafia, It’s just business. He would take a risk by NOT signing Kaepernick, who otherwise could be destined for Baltimore, if Flacco’s health keeps failing. Or Indianapolis, where Andrew Luck is on the shelf, as he tends to be. I don’t hear anyone saying Ryan Mallett and Scott Tolzien are better than Kaepernick.
A call may come from Minnesota, the home, for now, of brittle Sam Bradford and knee-shattered Teddy Bridgewater. In Pittsburgh there aren’t enough ice packs for Big Ben. Eventually, some team will realize the worst distraction of all is not having a quarterback. You can’t have a happy locker room without one.
