So, the Seattle Seahawks haven’t slammed the door shut on the possibility of signing Colin Kaepernick? Well, that’s the way that Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made it sound when speaking with Sports Radio KJR on Thursday.
“We’re still battling in all areas, we’re still looking at all our options. The QB thing is important to us,” Carroll said on the radio station, as reported by TMZ Sports.
He added: “We are trying to figure it out. We just want to work to be as competitive as we can. Whether that factors in or not, we’ll find out. But the discussion and the opportunity is still open.”
He said the possibility of adding Kaepernick to the roster is one of a number of areas that the Seahawks are working on as an organization.
That being said, Carroll says he hasn’t spoken with Kaepernick yet and added “I’m not going there” when asked about whether the quarterback continuing his protest during the national anthem would preclude him from signing a deal with the Seahawks.
Carroll saying the opportunity for Kaepernick to join the Seahawks comes more than a week following the franchise reportedly cancelling a planned workout with the free-agent QB after he allegedly refused to agree to the team’s stipulation that if he signed he wouldn’t kneel during the 2018 season, according to TMZ Sports.
Kaepernick, 30, last played in the NFL during the 2016 season, which had him kneeling during the national anthem before games in protest of racism, racial injustice and the police murders of unarmed African-American men. He threw for 2,241 yards and 16 touchdowns with four interceptions through 12 games that season. Those same numbers were better than some QBs who started that seasonand in 2017.
Making the matter tougher to stomach is The Undefeated releasing its list of “The 50 Quarterbacks Who Have Signed Since Colin Kaepernick Became A Free Agent”— many of whom Kaep is statistically better than comparatively or by default, considering some QBs never played a single NFL down yet managed to get employment in the league.
In November 2017, Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners, alleging that they colluded to not hire him. We can only wonder if the Seahawks will become part of that collusion grievance now. Or perhaps Carroll saying that the “opportunity is still open” for the Seahawks to sign Kaepernick will result in the franchise adding him to the roster to back up Russell Wilson.
At this point, do you think Kaepernick will be a member of the Seahawks for the 2018 NFL season or not?
