How much longer will Colin Kaepernick wear a San Francisco 49ers uniform?
So I’m sitting in a sports bar in Tallahassee that has, according to my nephew James, 59,000 TVs, most of them tuned to college basketball, this being March madness. But a few are checking out the NFL Combine and the new prospects like Ohio State defensive star Joey Bosa, all glorious 6 foot, 6 inch, 276 pounds of him.
But there was no time to measure his defensive pulchritude as the networks quickly moved on to the game of musical quarterbacks. With Peyton Manning retired from the Denver Broncos, Brock Osweiler would’ve seemed to have had a lock on the job, but no, he bolted – a favorite verb of sportswriters – to the Texans. The Broncos then traded for Mark Sanchez, formerly of the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles, but no one thinks he’s a permanent first-string solution (except probably Mark Sanchez).
Meanwhile, Robert Griffin III, released by the Washington Redskins, is set for a Friday visit with the Jets, who are said to be irked by the demands of quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, whom the Broncos might be interested in if the asking price isn’t too high.
And then there are the Cleveland Browns, who’ve waived troubled QB Johnny Manziel, alias “Johnny Football,” after two “tumultuous” years (another fave word of sportswriters).
Still with me? Do you need a scorecard? Sheesh, no wonder sports bars need so many TVs.
My questions is where does this leave Colin Kaepernick, the embattled San Francisco 49ers QB? Apparently, the Broncos and the Browns are both interested in him, with the Jets less so. You have to figure that with the Broncos’s great defense protecting him and a good offense, he’d be free to be the running quarterback that he is with Denver. But then again maybe not. Maybe John Elway, Mr. Bronco, wants a more traditional pocket passer as he had in Peyton Manning. And let’s not forget that Elway was hardly enamored of a previous running QB named Tim Tebow, even though Tebow led the Broncos to the playoffs.
Browns Coach Hue Jackson, on the other hand, has always loved Kap:
"Scouting him, I fell in love with the kid," Jackson said in 2013. "Leader, won a ton of games at Nevada, really impressive when you talked to him, strong, all the tools to win in the NFL. No doubt in my mind he was going to be good."
But former Eagles Coach Chip Kelly is said to be high on Colin’s running game. And Kelly is, of course, now the coach of the Niners.
So is it possible that in the game of musical quarterbacks, Colin might land right where he started? The Niners are said to be interested in RGIII. But why replace one running quarterback who has a checkered history with another? Is it a case of willful optimism, the notion that a new team, a new locale will be the difference?
In which case, if RG III goes to San Fran, might Colin be headed to Los Angeles along with the Rams – yet another rumor in football’s spring rite?
Cue the music.