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Despite being out of the NFL for almost three seasons, Colin Kaepernick finds himself in the news yet again. This time it’s because the league is going to hold a workout for him and teams are invited to watch. This will present an interesting dilemma for many teams. Kaepernick is still very much a polarizing figure and adding him could seriously ruffle the feathers of a large number of fans. Though there is risk involved, there should be a number of teams who do their due diligence. The Oakland Raiders aren’t a team that has been rumored to be interested and head coach Jon Gruden gave a non-answer when he was asked if anybody would be attending the workout.
“I don’t know. I’m going to answer questions about the Bengals,” said Gruden after Wednesday’s practice.
Most would point to the political ramifications of signing Kaepernick as a reason teams should avoid. However, there are multiple reasons why the Raiders should just avoid the quarterback and the workout altogether.
The Raiders Have Dealt With Too Much Drama Already
The Raiders just went through one of the most insanely dramatic offseasons in recent memory thanks to Antonio Brown. It started with him getting frostbite on his feet and ended with him threatening to fight the team’s general manager. The fact that Oakland survived that and has a winning record is a miracle in and of itself.
Now, comparing Brown and Kaepernick isn’t necessarily fair because the latter has never shown a sign of team destroying tendencies. He’s just very politically polarizing and adding him would result in a media firestorm that would turn into one of the biggest stories of the year. The Raiders have already been involved in a few massive stories and they don’t need the national media watching them with a microscope. There are other teams that are more equipped to handle the media blitz that would come with signing Kaepernick. The Raiders are too young and in too delicate of a place to risk messing things up now.
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Raiders Already Have Quarterbacks
The biggest reason the Raiders don’t even need to look at Kaepernick is because the team already has a quarterback. Despite what Ed Reed might think, Derek Carr is better than Kaepernick and the stats prove it. The latter’s best season statistically is comparable to Carr’s rookie season. Not only that, Mike Glennon is a very capable backup whose stats aren’t much worse than Kaepernick’s. It also can’t be discarded that the former 49ers quarterback hasn’t played in almost three years.
He’s 32 years old and was never an elite quarterback, to begin with. There are teams with much bigger needs at quarterback like the Chicago Bears. As fascinating as it could be to see Kaepernick return to the Bay Area, there’s just no logical reason for the Raiders to consider making a move. The risks far outweigh the rewards. Don’t be surprised if the team sends somebody out to scout the quarterback on Saturday, but you shouldn’t read too much into it.
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