The Ravens And Colin Kaepernick
You might remember a version of this same comic with the Steelers and Michael Vick. I tried my hand at multiple ideas, but ultimately they all boiled down to this same point, and by then I was short on time, so here we are. It’s almost fitting, in a way, because of how the Steelers and Ravens have always felt like the same basic team and fanbase with a different color scheme. One is full of spoiled jerks, and the other is full of NO RESPEK jerks, but all football fans are jerks, so it’s okay. I’m a jerk. So are you. That friend of yours? Huge jerk. You know the one.
The Ravens were “in discussions” about possibly signing Kaepernick. It likely won’t happen. It’ll probably end the same way Seattle’s flirtation with Kaep ended. With the team wussing out on a player that would clearly be an upgrade but “costs too much” or “Isn’t playing weight” or whatever rationalization the team comes up with to avoid telling the truth: they’re too afraid of the drama. Everyone keeps pointing at how much money Kaep is asking for, but to my knowledge Kaep’s camp hasn’t released anything and almost every report feels like plain old speculation. Speculate he’s asking for too much because that makes Kaep the bad guy, people buy into it, it becomes “the truth” as the story is morphed by different biased sources, and then people use “he’s asking for too much money” as a FACT in arguments despite that we don’t have enough evidence proving it. I’ll admit it’s hard for me to trust any reporters who are trying desperately to pretend Kaep’s politics drama isn’t the reason he’s unemployed. It’s so painfully obvious he’s being rejected from football for not football reasons.
Reasons like dumb fans who worship bastion of morality Ray “Helped cover up murder” Lewis and until the second video came out were more than happy to give Ray “punched his wife unconscious” the benefit of the doubt. If you worship Ray goddamn Lewis but hate Kaep to the point that you will “quit being a fan of the team” because you disagree with his peaceful protest, oof.
Back before the draft I predicted Kaep would get a job quickly afterward because teams would then know their QB situation better and someone would realize they need his abilities as a backup. I no longer think he will play this year, if ever again. Time has gone on, the reasons for rejecting him football wise are weaker and weaker arguments, he’s not getting a job unless a freak injury happens.
Obligatory #notallRavensfans #notallfootballfans
As someone who’s living in the area – I’m just about smack-dab in the middle between DC and Baltimore – I’m pretty sure that Kaep is going to be a Raven, unless Joe Flacco’s back ends up being nothing at all. I’ve been keeping close tabs on the Ravens QB situation since the Kaep rumors started, and by all accounts Ryan Mallett has been flat-out terrible. If Flacco is back with no issues then nothing will happen, but if it lingers like back injuries tend to linger, then between Harbaugh’s connection and the fact that Kaep has said he’d “love” to be a Raven, I think a deal gets done, because nobody wants to go into the season with Ryan Mallett as your starter.
I think it’s pretty clear that Harbaugh was putting pressure on ownership to sign the guy. He came out with these comments about how much of a good guy he is and he wants to be a Raven and all that just before the Ravens had a fan activity. Harbaugh is a smart guy, he knew what he was doing and I doubt he doesn’t have more in his back pocket. It’s going to happen for the simple reason Harbaugh wants it to happen.
#NotMyShittyBackupQuarterback
Michael Vick tortures and kills dogs for 6 years, only stops when he’s caught, and the league welcomes him back.
Meanwhile, Kaep is a pariah for peacefully protesting, promising to pay $1M for charity (which he did end up doing), and now Ravens fans are threatening to quit following them if they pick him up, even as just a training camp body in case Flacco’s back is still bad.
If he doesn’t play this year, it should be because he’s a backup that wants to walk in as a starter earning $16M. Not because of his off the field stuff, when there are far bigger pieces of shit to have played.
What pisses me off about Kaep is that for all of that peaceful protesting, he didn’t even vote in the election! Talk about hypocritical.
With that said, I don’t think this should prevent him from being a backup somewhere.
I agree, despite his views that can be questioned, there are even worse backup QBs being employed. I’m surprised the Browns didn’t give him a look yet.
You mean how like Glennon is getting $18 million by the Bears?
Ugh!
I think you are conflating too many issues.
The Michael thing was an outrage, but it happened in 2007. I wouldn’t say that people were more tolerant to off the field drama back then, because they weren’t. But the NFL teams were more willing to shoulder it.
Other outrages that happened in the past that got handled very differently than they would today: the Ray Lewis incident (2002), or Roethlisberger’s sexual assault trial (2009).
For better or worse, the Ray Rice changed the leagues attitudes towards off the field issues, so it is a bit beside the point to bring those long past incidents to try to make a point about what is going on today.
As for Kaep, I think I like him, eventhough it will be a long time before I finally make up my mind about him. Too many people seem to be into activism because it is fashionable. but few are willing to bear the weight of real activism, that is, truly get to know the issues, do the effort to change minds, accept the costs of putting your name behind reasonable yet potentially unpopular compromises… To say anything about other activists who actually put their liberty, and even their life on the line, for their beliefs.
But I’ll tell you one thing, if Kaep’s activist leanings came as a whim, he will regret doing what he did. But if he is in it for the long run, having been shun by a multibillion dollar industry with the cultural impact that professional football has, will serve him well one day.
Indeed.
I think he’s out of a job because he asks for attention. It’s a shitty thing to say, but every time a player did a criminal act, they wanted it out of the papers and for nobody to talk about it. Kaepernick wanted himself on the news and in the papers. What he did is certainly less offensive than any crime, but in every team’s mind, his sin was to ask for the spotlight.
Yes, but still, the Browns…
Then again the Browns is essentially a fate worse than death so yeah.
Except Kaep was never really seeking attention. The first time he did it, no one actually noticed he was sitting down until like after the game! And most of the stuff he’s done has been under the radar and he hasn’t been doing press, and he’s avoided the press for the most part (much to his detriment, I’d say).
I mean, unless this is opposite day. The last thing Kaep wanted was the spotlight.
Employers generally don’t want their employees protesting against social issues on company time, especially in front of an audience of millions. It’s a distraction, brings the employee’s focus and commitment into question, may negatively effect other employees, and can potentially piss off the paying customers.
It’s even worse if that protest can be perceived as unpatriotic.
So putting aside Kaep’s lack of football skills, it’s not surprising no owner wants to touch him. Football Inc has spent years and a small fortune honing a certain image around patriotism, the military, the flag, America, etc. When you spit in the face of that, well, there’s consequences, regardless of the righteousness of the protest.
If you do something “controversial” and then play well, nobody will care. But if you are crappy on a crappy team, people will hate you for your “controversy”.
The thing is he wasn’t crappy. He was easily one of the few good parts of a complete trash fire. Kaep was not the problem with the 2016 49ers.
Dave…don’t bother man…people keep sharing that photo of his stats in that one game where he threw 4 INTs but absolutely refuse to look at his overall stats for the season and see that he didnt actually suck that bad. They say “yeah the stats show he’s not a good qb” – you show them stats that prove otherwise –> They bring up veterans who “fought for the flag”(whatever tf that’s supposed to mean, they fought because that’s their job, to be soldiers but whatevs) –> You show them interviews with vets who approve of Kaep’s message —> They bring up his stas again….You can’t reason with these people…’MURICA
I agree. I’m a Kaep defender. But fielding one of the worst records in the league confirms, in a lot of people’s minds, that he’s “not good” and a “distraction”. I thought my gratuitous use of quotes indicated that I don’t share that opinion.
I’m sorry but that’s patently false. PFF ranked him 29th (below Blake Bortles) which doesn’t actually mean much. More importantly, in their write-up, they note that Kaep had the 33rd best adjusted completion percentage (comp% after adjusting for drops and throwaways) and the 29th best passer rating from a clean pocket. Kaepernick was a problem. Perhaps far down in the list of problems in last year’s 49ers, but still a problem.
Funny is that so many people bring up the attention he was seeking, but if I’m not mistaken he was sitting for multiple anthems in a row, and it wasn’t until a reporter asked what he was doing that he even said anything.
I think it’s worth mentioning that, to avoid signing Kaepernick, the Ravens went and got a new QB after all for training camp while Flacco recovers.
The kicker is that the guy is a arena league QB. Not even from the Arena Football League, but from some developmental/lower-tier/local arena league. A guy whose entire college QB career can be summarized in a single gif:
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nn1hBheP6S8OcNeeNXAvgI8OHPA=/0x0:425×240/720×0/filters:focal(0x0:425×240):gifv():no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8948239/drewolson.gif
That’s 1/3 for -1 yards. For the entirety of his days in college football.
And this guy was signed before Kaep.
Oh Kaep, former Super Bowl QB. How the mighty have fallen.
UPDATE:
Apparently the guy was as bad as could be expected. The Ravens waived him just 3 days after signing him. He was replaced with this other guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Woodrum
At least this guy had an actual playing career while in college, and actually has his own Wikipedia page >_>
Sub-Arena league, Nick Davila, Tommy Grady, Randy Hippeard, Adrian MacPherson, Jason Boltus, Dan Radnbaugh, and even Geno Smith the linebacker would last longer than a weekend as a camp arm.
I mean to be fair, I think there’s legitimate apolitical reasons to justify signing a no-name scrub over Kaep as of right now. Even if the Ravens signed Kaep to a veteran minimum contract, he’d be almost about $400k more expensive, and for a team has the second-least cap space, roughly half a million is a lot of money. It’s a price well worth paying if Flacco ends up being sidelined for any real games, but if his back problem ends up being nothing, then given he’s only missed six games his whole career, they’d be spending money on a player who probably won’t ever see the field.
Like I said before, I think the deal happens, they’re just waiting to see what the situation is with Flacco’s back before they spend on a player they might not actually need.
As a Ravens fan, the one and only reason I wouldn’t want Kaep on our roster for the start of the season is that his style of play is completely different from Flacco’s – and that would require a whole lot of adaptation from the rest of the team in case Flacco can’t come back in time or goes down during the season. Other than that, if they want to sign him as a training camp arm or whatever, I’d be fine with it, as long as the price is right.
I can’t make sense of the people who say they won’t watch football if Kaep signs with any team (or have already stopped watching because of his protesting). I mean, if you’re really a fan of the sport, why would one player’s actions stop you from enjoying it? And that’s besides the obvious point that there are a lot of scumbags playing the game – domestic abusers, alleged sex offenders and such – and there was never such a commotion for it. Please grow up, people.
I’ve never understood why people would stop watching entirely ovet Kap’s actions. It’s not like anyone outside of San Francisco werr getting 49ers games, considering they were a 2 win team. They weren’t going to see him play anyway so why stop watching entirely?
I love how when Ray came out not supporting Kap, suddenly everyone who used to blow off the murder thing and insist it was nothing are NOW suddenly bringing it up “who cares what some murderer thinks?!?”. I fucking hate people. I really do.
I don’t agree with Kaep’s politics. He praises Fidel Castro while decrying oppressive government, and refuses to exercise his right to vote on any issue because he doesn’t like the presidential candidates. By my measure, that’s… poorly informed at best. That said, the man has a right to protest. Whether or not I agree with him, I believe in his right to express his views.
I’m a Ravens fan, and I’ve been following the team’s needs pretty closely this off-season. We have little cap space left and a few other needs, but Mallett is hopeless and Flacco’s back injury is concerning. Kaep is an obvious upgrade over Mallett, so my longshot hope would be that we can sign Kaep on the cheap and still leave room to sign someone like Austin Howard at RT.
I was really wishing you put Suggs in there. I think he may be the worst of them all. Google “Suggs and bleach” and see what comes up. Dude is straight up garbage.
Is he using a Goatee Saver?
I hate Kaep and I don’t think his unpatriotic ass should be in the NFL (I think he’s a solid CFL qb), but he is better than the guy Baltimore signed to be a camp arm, David Olsen. This past spring, Olsen quarterbacked the Kansas City Phantoms (who don’t even play in Kansas City) of the CIF (Champions Indoor Football) to a 4-8 record. In the hierarchy of indoor/arena football the CIF, is like division 2 college football [IFL(‘Zona)/NAL(J’ville) is FCS and Arena is FBS].
BTW; here’s the logo to the Central Florida Jags, a team of the Elite Indoor Football Conference (equivalent to the NAIA)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/CentralFloridaJags.png/200px-CentralFloridaJags.png
All that I see of this is that these people sees disrespecting the flag as the worst offense anyone can make. If they had their way, doing what Colin did would be punishable by public execution. To them, what he did was no different than a terrorist attack. They don’t see the irony in their attitudes. How is their attitudes any better than the countries they say they’re freer than?
Like you, I consider them hypocrites. Just not in the same way.
One other thing. If you wanted to portray that fan more accurately, you would’ve had more flags in the room than Ravens merchandise.
What did Kaep ever do to deserve the indignity of being associated with the Ravens, I ask you?
The Ray Rice situation is exactly how it should be played out, you give a guy the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty. Otherwise you end up with the same situation that happened to Lucky. Domestic violence around football happens, but so does women who will do anything to get a taste of NFL money. Reserving judgement until there is direct proof one way or the other is the best way to do it.
What annoys me most about the whole Kaepernick situation is the people who lambaste him for not standing during the national anthem probably mute the national anthem when it plays on their TVs.
As a Ravens fan, I really hope we can sign him. I wouldn’t mind seeing him start over Flacco either. I couldn’t care less about the anthem thing, and it’s sad how much people care about such a trivial thing.
So, Kaep is basically a Tim Tebow that the common person hates, right?
I wouldn’t take Kaep if I was a GM. There are too many mouthbreather redneck fans for every franchise that would blow a fucking fuse, and the first rule of being a GM is to keep my job.
Kaepernick is unemployed because he would rather be a martyr than a backup QB. that’s all. we’re tired of the virtue signaling.