Even though Colin Kaepernick isn’t in the NFL right now, he continues to divide America.
In fact, rap superstar Jay-Z turned down the NFL’s offer to perform the Super Bowl halftime show because Kaepernick is roster-less.
But Kaepernick might land a job soon because of this key injury.
Reminiscent of last season, quarterbacks Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota are both down with injuries.
Mariota tweaked his hamstring, and although it’s not expected to be a long-term injury, the Tennessee Titans wisely signed free agent Brandon Weeden without even batting an eye at Colin Kaepernick.
But the Raiders lost Derek Carr with a transverse spinal fracture that could take anywhere between 2-6 weeks heal.
The Raiders organization claims to be okay with EJ Manuel taking the helm for now, but if Manuel’s career is any indication, General Manager Reggie Mackenzie will be looking elsewhere if it goes bad quickly.
And the Raiders are just the type of rebellious organization that would sign Colin Kaepernick for the right price.
Jeff Smith from 247 Sports writes:
“After the news broke that quarterback Derek Carr suffered a transverse process fracture in his back, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport Raider Nation went into a frenzy.
It’s now the EJ Manuel show, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with Manuel. As a matter of fact, the Raiders have put themselves in a much better spot with Manuel as a backup as opposed to Connor Cook, who simply isn’t a No. 2 quarterback.
And that’s actually one of the reasons why the Raiders should sign Kaepernick.
Maybe Carr will miss two weeks, maybe he’ll miss six, or maybe it could be even worse than that. I don’t expect him to be out for six games, but it’s possible.
So on that note, as a fan do you want Connor Cook as the backup quarterback for the Raiders again? I’ll take Colin Kaepernick.
Cook may have a future in the NFL as a backup, but that future is not now. If it was, Oakland wouldn’t have signed Manuel in the first place.
Last season, Cook was average in the team’s final game after Carr suffered his leg injury, as he completed 14-of-21 passes for 150 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
Then the playoffs came, the Houston Texans had tape on him, and everything turned into a disaster in the playoff game.
Cook completed 18-of-45 passes for 161 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in the playoff loss.
Carr may be out for some time, but I’m personally not ready to throw the towel in on this season or this team, and from a pure football perspective, signing Kaepernick is not only the right move, but it’s the only move.
What if Manuel struggles?
The Raiders next three games are against the Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. Both the Ravens and Chiefs rank in the bottom half of the league in terms of passing yards allowed per game.
If Manuel can’t hit the ground running against the Ravens, which is certainly a winnable game, then the Raiders are staring a daunting task in the eye.
Games against the Chargers and Chiefs will define their season. If the Raiders lose these two games, they start out 0-3 in the division, and both losses would have come on their home field.
This can’t happen for Oakland, and signing Kaepernick right now, may all but ensure that it won’t.
If Manuel struggles, which I’m hopeful that he won’t, then the Raiders will have some time from now until the Chargers game to prepare Kaepernick to play.”
Jeff Smith’s analysis here is misguided because he overrates the divisive quarterback’s play.
He isn’t that good, but most importantly, the Raiders have little cap room to work with and they could only offer Kaepernick a few million at the most.
Which of course Kaepernick would turn down because he thinks he’s more valuable than that.