Written by Albert Breer at SI.com
The term has been used so liberally the past several months that I felt like it’d behoove me—and the readers here—to actually look up the definition of “blackball.” Thanks to Merriam-Webster for furnishing it:
1. To vote against; especially, to exclude from membership by casting a negative vote.
2. To exclude socially, ostracize or boycott.
The question of why Colin Kaepernick is unemployed has been hotly debated since he opted out of his Niners’ contract in early March (which he did to get ahead of their plan to release him) and became an unrestricted free agent. I’ve been consistent on this one—and it’s not about what I think, but I what know, having spoken with someone with just about every team in the league about it over that time.
But as The MMQB wraps up its series on the anthem protests across the NFL, and Kaepernick’s place in the debate, and looked for a new way to approach this story, I wanted to go to the teams and ask why they individually decided to stay away. I went to teams that would have had reason to kick the tires on backup or stopgap starter-level quarterbacks, and granted anonymity in pursuit of honesty.
And so we’re going to bring you the reasons a number of these teams decided that it was unnecessary to even go to ownership with the possibility of signing him, not so much to prove the point I’ve been trying to make, but rather to illustrate why his situation is more complicated than many want to concede.
In this week’s Game Plan, we’ll check back on the Bears and how their plan for and perception of Mitch Trubisky has shifted after his big preseason; see how the draft’s forgotten quarterback is faring so far; explain why the Lions did not in any way overpay for Matthew Stafford; take a look at how the Texans have pulled together in their city’s time of crisis; and we’ll check in on the trade and free-agent markets ahead of the cutdown.
• Executive 1: “It’s not something we discussed, so to talk about reasoning, we’re talking hypotheticals. … Certainly he’s good enough to be a backup. … But we have a good No. 2, a guy that fits our system that we have familiarity with. He’s here for the same reason that (Dolphins coach) Adam Gase goes back to (Jay) Cutler. We know exactly what we’re going to get from the guy. Physically, Kaepernick’s more talented, but familiarity with a backup at that position, knowing exactly what you’re going to get, is more important than the ‘wow’ factor. … It’s like with [Robert Griffin III]; you had him playing a certain way, and he was a hell of a player. But as soon as defenses figured out what they were, and a specific way to play them, that’s where they had to be able to start to win from the pocket. If you can’t do that in this league, it’s tough.”
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