NFL on CBS analysts spoke up during today's NFL Media Day on the Colin Kaepernick situation. Bill Cowher, the former Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach, questioned the free agent's desire to play, and retired Dallas quarterback Tony Romo said that NFL teams aren't willing to deal with a backup QB who brings a distraction.
The 2017 NFL season is only a few days away, and Romo said this about Kaepernick's situation:
If you do something that is in a position for people to talk about, like he did, that’s a whole other discussion. But if you do that you put yourself in a position to be evaluated that’s slightly different, and he’s being evaluated that way now. If they thought he could bring them a championship they would overlook it, but since he’s not being evaluated in a position to be that good for the most part, now all of a sudden you’re looking at a backup quarterback, or maybe a starter, who brings a distraction, and teams aren’t willing to do that.
Meanwhile, Cowher told The Sporting News' Evan Sporer that if Kaepernick wants to play he needs to articulate that more than's he done:
I’ve not heard from Colin Kaepernick this whole offseason in terms of coming out at this point to me. If I’m Colin Kaepernick I have to prove myself. I would say, ‘I would love the opportunity to show that I am a championship-winning quarterback again, and I understand that I am not going to be handed anything and that I would love the opportunity to come back.’ If he said that it would open the ears of a lot of teams.
Both analysts said the anthem protest changes everything. Romo said Kaepernick is good enough to play pro ball, and he thinks Kaepernick does play again. But if an NFL general manager thought he could help the team win a championship he would be an active player now. It's a matter of risk-reward due to Kaepernick's activism.
"He could help football teams," Romo said, "but there’s a risk-reward there for each one of these coaches or GMs who may look at him. For a backup, they don’t really want a backup to be a distraction in any capacity. If anything they just want you to be there but really not be heard, and help the other starter."
Sporer reported that Cowher believes if Kaepernick "was the best option available and if he made it clear he was committed to his football responsibilities, he as a coach would hire Kaepernick."
"But you don’t hear him saying that," Cowher said, "so you just have to wonder, 'Does he really want to come back?' He has a lot of people speaking for him, but people need to hear it from him, not from the other people around him."
Cowher has a point. This offseason, Kaepernick has been dialing up his anger with highly inflammatory tweets, and he's much more vocal about his activism than about anything he could do to help a football wanting to play again. That's what employers want to know: how you can help the organization and why should I hire you? Kaepernick's shrill friends are demanding an NFL job for him, and instead of actually seeking a position he's going full throttle on radical causes.
