The 2017 NFL draft is in our rear view mirror, and with rookie minicamps taking place, teams are getting a chance to look at some of their younger talent. OTAs will follow later this month and into June before teams part ways until training camp. In the meantime, numerous notable free agents remain on the open market.
The most notable at this point is probably quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Jay Cutler’s decision to go into the broadcast booth leaves Kaepernick as the best quarterback on the market. The comp pick formula signing implications end at the close of business today, but Kaepernick’s opt-out means that has no bearing on a team’s signing decision.
Peter King wrote about the quarterbacks still on the market in Monday’s MMQB column, looking at what has been a rather odd market. Players like Josh McCown, Brian Hoyer, Mike Glennon got notable contracts, while Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin III, and Ryan Fitzpatrick remain sidelined. Additionally, Tony Romo and Jay Cutler opted to leave football after the right situations did not materialize.
King spent draft week in Santa Clara embedded with the 49ers. It is no surprise he heard some scuttlebutt during the week. In his recent MMQB column, he stated that, “there are those in the building who think Kaepernick might actually rather do social justice work full-time than play quarterback.” King said if he was in charge of a team with a starting or backup QB need, he’d be on a plane to New York already to see where Kaepernick sees his life headed, and if football is part of his future.
Kaepernick continues with his charitable work. We heard about his handing out suits at the Queens parole office, and over the weekend he conducted one of his Know Your Rights camps in Chicago. He also continues his $100,000 monthly donations.
A couple months ago, Chip Kelly spoke with Sports Illustrated about Kaepernick, and said he was completely committed to football. He said there had been no issues with that, and he and Jim Harbaugh both believe he can still contribute to a team. I’d be curious who is telling King what they think Kaepernick wants.
The question remains whether or not an NFL team will sign him. There was one report about what we wanted in a contract, but that was later shot down by Pro Football Talk. So, we don’t really know what he is asking for in terms of money or playing time. It’s all assumptions at this point. But, we don’t have much else to go on, so it’s poll time.
Rather than ask if he’ll be on a 53-man roster Week 1 of the regular season, I wanted to change it up. It is possible injuries happen during training camp or during the regular season and someone approaches him about signing. With that in mind, will he spend any part of the regular season on a 53-man roster? It could be one week in October, it could be all 17 weeks of the regular season. But will he end up somewhere at some point this coming season?