Fans of Colin Kaepernick should be comforted by the words of New York Giants co-owner John Mara.
Mara was a guest on “The Michael Kay Show” on ESPN New York’s 98.7 Tuesday and was asked about Kaepernick, who is a free agent. Mara said he thinks Kaepernick will end up on an NFL roster this season.
“I think he still has some good football left in him. I agree with that,” Mara said on The Michael Kay Show. “But obviously there are other issues that go along with him. Is he willing to sit as a backup behind a starter? What’s that going to do with your locker room, your quarterback room, with your offensive room?”
Those are all questions many people have been asking when it comes to Kaepernick. Another question some have been wondering is whether the free agent QB is being blackballed by the league. Mara says that’s not the case.
“Absolutely not. Anybody who thinks there has been any conversations going on among teams about Colin Kaepernick is crazy,” Mara said. “That just is not the case. I saw a quote, I think it was [Dolphins owner] Steve Ross in Miami said recently: ‘Teams want to win so badly that if they believe a player can help them win, they are going to bring them on.’
“And I think there are certain issues that go along with Colin Kaepernick, and that may have scared some teams away. But there is absolutely no blackball going on here. I just don’t see that at all.”
The Baltimore Ravens were the most recent team to seriously discuss adding Kaepernick. They acknowledged they were checking fan and sponsor reaction before making such a drastic move.
Perhaps the best chance Kaepernick will have of joining an NFL team will come when a team loses its starter and has to turn to an ill-equipped backup. At that point they may decide that Kaepernick is worth signing. Until then, teams are showing that they’d rather have a QB who provides fewer distractions.
