More than a month into the first free agency of his career, quarterback Colin Kaepernick continues to be unemployed. On Monday, two of his former teammates in San Francisco expressed surprise about that.
“I’ve seen some quarterbacks who got signed that, in my opinion, Kap is way better than,” 49ers running back Carlos Hyde told reporters on the first day of offseason workouts, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “But, you know, I’m not a G.M. I’m not a head coach. So that’s out of my league.”
Linebacker NaVorro Bowman linked the situation to Kaepernick’s 2016 anthem protests.
“I think he’s proven that he can play at this level,” Bowman said. “He’s made a choice that’s kind of had a little backlash from it. But I think he’ll be fine. Someone will give him a job. He’s not like a bad guy or anything. So I think that’s what matters in the NFL, if you can play level and your character is great. So I wish him the best.”
As each low-level journeyman gets a job, Kaepernick’s status becomes more glaring. But while the report from two weeks ago that Kaepernick wants $9-10 million per year and a chance to compete for the starting job was inaccurate because no talks with any teams have ever gotten to that point, it’s a given that Kaepernick wouldn’t be interested in the lower-level slots given to guys like Matt McGloin in Philadelphia (behind Carson Wentz and Nick Foles) and T.J. Yates in Buffalo (behind Tyrod Taylor and competing with Cardale Jones).
Still, in a league where there aren’t enough good quarterbacks (or bad ones) to go around, Kaepernick’s status becomes more confounding with each passing week -- and with the periodic arguments floated by some in an effort to attribute Kaepernick’s status to something other than his non-football activities from last season.