My annual pursuit of Ron Jaworski quotations about Colin Kaepernick continued last night! I had a chance to attend his charity cigar party in New York City, my second consecutive year at the event.
Jaws has an annual cigar party in the Super Bowl host city. Each year the party raises funds for Jaws Youth Playbook, which works to improve health and wellness for at-risk youth. Additionally, JYP picks a local charity to benefit from the event. Last year in New Orleans, United Way of Southeast Louisiana was the beneficiary. This year in New York City, Pro Football Legends was the beneficiary. According to Jaws, Pro Football Legends works to provide assistance and programs to benefit former NFL players. We've heard so much about the plight of many retired players, and this is one way to help these guys.
The ticketed event included a silent auction of memorabilia, events and high quality cigars and liquor. The event featured a variety of notable NFL personalities. Mike Ditka was back again, with some of his personal brand of cigars up for auction. Bill Cowher made an appearance, and was particularly popular. I could have spent a while counting the number of Super Bowl rings in attendance. For the non-football people in attendance, it was a chance to enjoy the company of some all-time greats. Whether you wanted to talk football with Willie Lanier, cigars with Mike Ditka, or enjoy the amazing rooftop bar, a good time could be had by all.
And much like last year, I spoke with Jaws about Kap. Jaws is a big Kap fan and has made it pretty clear that he thinks Kap has huge potential. A year ago, I had a chance to check out Jaws's celebrity cigar party in New Orleans, a few nights prior to Super Bowl XLVII. The event came not too long after Jaws had said on ESPN that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had a chance to become the best quarterback in the NFL. I asked Jaws about it and what he thought Kap needed to do to improve. He said it was all about gaining more experience.
A year later, he still thinks the sky is the limit with Kap, but that he needs to grow as a "processor of information." The more Kap plays the game, the more he will learn and experience. Every snap he gets adds one more piece of information into his arsenal. He has the arm and legs to be a great quarterback, and now it's a matter of developing the mental side of it. He's a smart guy, and it's a matter of taking what he learns and understanding situations as they present themselves next season and beyond.
I had a chance to talk with Chiefs legend Willie Lanier, who thought Eddie DeBartolo had a good shot of getting into the Hall of Fame this year. Fingers remain crossed for Eddie. Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Bill Cowher, Mike Ditka and a whole bunch of retired NFL players were on hand. I saw plenty of Super Bowl rings, but needed a face book to put names to them.
After I left the party, I kicked myself for not asking about Kap's mechanics. There are times he seems to get a little sloppy with his throwing mechanics, or stares down a particular receiver. As he gains more experience, hopefully we see some improvement in those areas.
And thus concludes our annual episode of Fooch hunting down Jaws for information on Colin Kaepernick. Maybe we'll pick this up again in 2015 in Glendale, Arizona!