Players around the NFL have begun to speak their minds on Colin Kaepernick's peculiar omission from off-season free agency talks. The former San Francisco 49'ers quarterback remains available, and relatively stranded it appears, as teams have overlooked his six years of experience [which includes a trip to the Super Bowl], and prowess as fast and agile outer pocket presence. Many chalk the lack of interest up to the decline of his performance over the past two to three seasons, but there are others who insist that despite him being far from an elite quarterback at this point in his career, his skills shouldn't be regarded as beneath the caliber of some of the leagues other slingers who've received calls from teams.
Two Philadelphia Eagles players most notably expressed their skepticism over the past couple of days. Kaepernick's former 49'ers teammate Torrey Smith was one of them, taking to social media to state what for him appears to be the obvious. "At least 64 QBS are in the NFL...Kap doesn't have a job....but some folks who he is better than do," he posted on Wednesday, March 22, before releasing an additional tweet that read, "Colin Kaepernick is not currently employed. However, his skill set vastly exceeds others who were on the market."
Just the day prior, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, who was one of the players to join Kaepernick's National Anthem protests during the 2016 season, gave his piece on the matter. Jenkins didn't assert that Kaepernick's controversial protest was the reason teams have laid off of him, in literal terms, but he said enough to lead fans to infer why he thinks the Niners QB is still jobless. "Hhhhmmmmm... @nfl GM's you can try to act like talent is the reason @Kaepernick7 isn't employed ...but we know the real reason," he tweeted on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, teams who came into the off-season needing to fill a void at quarterback have continued to sign third-stringers and unproven talent, with the New York Giants picking up former Jets draftee Geno Smith, the Oakland Raiders signing Bills backup E.J. Manuel, and the Jets turning to veteran Josh McCown only one day after director Spike Lee made a plea for the team to give Kaepernick a chance.
Source: nydailynews.com
