Seattle Seahawks: It is time for the truth about Colin Kaepernick

The Seattle Seahawks need a quarterback. But all the reasons Seattle has given before to not sign Colin Kaepernick seem not relevant now.

Years ago after Kaepernick had been released by the 49ers and replaced by Blaine Gabbert (seriously, that is true), Seattle sniffed at bringing in Kaepernick to back up Russell Wilson. This was cool because it seemed to show Pete Carroll as an open-minded guy and Seattle as a team and city that would be one of the few to entertain bringing Kaepernick in.

But Seattle didn’t sign Kaepernick in 2018 and, in fact, canceled his workout when Kaepernick reportedly wouldn’t promise to stop kneeling for the national anthem. So this was decidedly un-cool of Seattle to do and made them seem like every other team.

Besides, Kaepernick was never going to be the starter in Seattle as long as Russell Wilson was the quarterback. Kaepernick surely knew this and keeping Wilson was the right thing to do.

But now Russell Wilson is gone and the Seahawks need a quarterback. Seattle management shouldn’t be telling us that Kaepernick has been out of the league too long. Josh Johnson didn’t throw a pass from 2011 through 2018 and then started a game for Washington. Johnson was still in the league in 2021.

And no, Johnson was never on the Seahawks but guess who was? Quarterbacks like Paxton Lynch and Anthony Gordon were. When Kaepernick was worthy of being a starting quarterback on one of the 32 teams in the NFL when he was released in 2017? He played on a 1-10 team in 2016 and still threw 16 touchdown passes and just 4 interceptions.

The question in reality as far as whether Colin Kaepernick will ever play again in the NFL isn’t about talent. Kaepernick was good enough in 2017 and likely still is. He is only 34 years old still. The reason Kaepernick doesn’t play for anybody is that he has (allegedly) been boycotted. Teams have taken greater chances with lesser quarterbacks.

But what makes the current situation for the Seahawks worse as far as Kaepernick goes is that Kaepernick has recently thrown balls and it has been posted to social media with Tyler Lockett and Aaron Fuller. Kaepernick wants to play and is in good enough shape to play. If Lockett and Fuller don’t mind catching passes from Kaepernick for fun, they likely won’t mind catching passes when they get paid to do so either.

Seattle needs a quarterback. At least give Kaepernick a chance to come in and compete for the job. If he is signed and shows he can’t play anymore or isn’t accurate enough, fine. Release him then. But not giving him a chance at all is just wrong when Seattle has a need at a position that Kaepernick has played and played well before.