With Roger Goodell admitting that the NFL was wrong for trying to silence players protesting racial inequality, many are calling for a team – any team – to sign Colin Kaepernick.
Well, if there’s one team that could use him, it’s the New England Patriots – for reasons on and off the field.
“I don’t think there is a perfect fit really anywhere,” Boston Globe columnist Chad Finn said on The DA Show. “The guy has been out of the league going on four years now. We weren’t sure what he was as a quarterback when the NFL essentially blackballed him and tried to start the clock to keep him from ever playing again. What the NFL has tried to do with this is have Colin Kaepernick be sent away long enough that you can justifiably say, ‘Well, he’s been out of the league X amount of years; he’s 34, 35 years old now; obviously we’d love to have him back, but there’s no place for him.’ That’s what they’re trying to do.”
The death of George Floyd, however, sparked outrage and protests throughout the country and around the world. It seems that Goodell and others have finally opened their eyes.
“It wasn’t anti-flag or anti-military,” Finn said of Kaepernick’s protest. “He was protesting racial inequality and police brutality. People have realized that now. That message has finally gotten through after all that has had to happen for people to recognize what Colin Kaepernick was saying.”
NFL players released a poignant video about police brutality, with Patrick Mahomes and others saying, “Black Lives Matter.”
“Patrick Mahomes popping up in that video, the new face of the NFL, really has changed how the NFL has to handle this,” Finn said. “Goodell seems to have recognized that, and they’ve even apologized for the [way] they handled this. But the next step is to let Kaepernick back into the league.”
The Patriots, as of now, plan to start Jarrett Stidham. So they might be in the market for a QB.
“There’s no ideal football fit, but in terms of a culture fit, the Patriots are perfect,” Finn said. “They’ve been able to handle any distraction. I hate that word, but you can apply it to a lot of different things. They brought Tim Tebow in, who drew more attention in training camp when he was here than Tom Brady did. It was a circus. They just rolled through that. When Deflategate happened, they won the Super Bowl that year. When Spygate happened, they went 16-0 and nearly became the first team to go 19-0. They had Aaron Hernandez on that roster. They dealt with everything that came with that guy.”
Even without Tom Brady, the Patriots’ roster is full of leaders and high-character guys.
“Bill Belichick builds a culture of players that are adults,” Finn said. “I absolutely guarantee you that Patriots players would redo their contracts if it meant bringing Colin Kaepernick here to New England. I think just in terms of culture, the Patriots have the ability to deal with certain things that would wreck other teams. The fact that they still have an uncertain situation at quarterback, if Kaepernick is going to come back in the league, here in New England would be the fit for him, the best fit.”
But would Robert Kraft sign Kaepernick? After all, Kraft is very close with President Donald Trump, who is not fond of Kaepernick.
“Well, there’s a couple of things here,” Finn said. “Kraft tries to have it both ways sometimes in controversial situations. . . . He’s a guy who has a lot of clout in the league, a lot of power. He’s got Roger Goodell’s ear and he wants to maintain that. Fighting the power of the NFL really isn’t going to do him any favors and help him continue to have that power that he has. But it does seem like circumstances have changed. We still need to sort of find out if Goodell is going to allow Kaepernick back in the league and makes that known to the teams. I think if he did that – and that is the next step that he has to do here – it wouldn’t surprise me if Kraft were the one to step up and say, ‘Let’s give this guy a chance in New England.’ That’s a great look for the Patriots. Kraft always likes to say, ‘We’re all Patriots.’ Well, Kaepernick in a lot of ways legitimately is one of those, and I think Kraft recognizes that at this point in time, with the way the winds are blowing, it would be a good look for the Patriots to have him come here.”