Written by Pat McManamon at ESPN.com
The Cleveland Browns have been silent in the three weeks since Colin Kaepernick became a free agent a year after they were reportedly willing to make a trade for the controversial veteran quarterback.
Joe Thomas, the Browns’ Pro Bowl left tackle and part-time Twitter analyst, has offered a possible reason, saying NFL teams no longer look at Kaepernick as an elite QB, and his political stance of taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 was too much for a player who was neither a starter nor a star.
Kaepernick has drawn almost no interest from NFL teams even though he quarterbacked the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl and had 16 touchdowns to four interceptions last season.
My thoughts re: @Kaepernick7? Teams don’t currently view him as a starting QB, and NFL teams accept ZERO distractions from their backup QBs.
— Joe Thomas (@joethomas73) March 25, 2017
For his part, when Browns coach Hue Jackson coached the Raiders, he said he wanted to draft Kaepernick “in the worst way” in 2011.
ProFootballTalk.com reported a year ago that the Browns were willing to trade for Kaepernick but the deal fell apart when he would not reduce his salary from $12 million. PFT reported that the Browns were willing to give up a third-round pick and pay Kaepernick in the range of $7 million to $8 million.
But this year, it’s been crickets — and the Browns have serious question marks at quarterback.
Kaepernick, who said he will stand going forward after sitting or kneeling for the anthem throughout last season, has not played at an elite level since his Super Bowl season. His career completion percentage is 59.8, his QB rating is 88.9 and his Total QBR is 64.9. Those rankings are in the middle of the pack among NFL quarterbacks since he’s been in the league.
He also has been sacked 171 times, 14th-highest in his NFL years, and his career rating is one spot ahead of Robert Griffin III, whom the Browns gave a chance in 2016 and released this spring.
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