On Monday, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll mused publicly about the possibility of signing quarterbacks Colin Kaepernick of Robert Griffin III. Then came the report from NFL Media that the Seahawks had recently reached out to Kaepernick’s agent about a possible backup job.
One league source with knowledge of Kaepernick’s situation posed this question to PFT in response to the news: “When do teams publicize that they’re interested in a player who is available for other teams to sign as well?”
The answer may be this: The NFL wants it out there that someone/anyone is talking to Kaepernick about a job.
In recent days, questions have intensified regarding Kaepernick’s ongoing unemployment. With weeks of flawed assumptions and false narratives regarding Kaepernick’s demands, abilities, and objectives, no one had actually gone to the source to acquire the information necessary to reaching a decision about whether to sign him. With word emerging that the Seahawks have spoken to Kaepernick about being a backup, the glaring failure of anyone to reach out to Kaepernick has now been addressed.
The real question is whether the Seahawks will offer Kaepernick a job, and if so under what terms. If the Seahawks are indeed interested in signing him, it’s a change from late March, when Pete Carroll sounded lukewarm about Kaepernick at best.
“Well, we’ll see,” Carroll told PFT Live at the league meetings in Arizona. “We’ll see about the quarterback position. Colin has been an effective player, and he’s had some ups and downs in his playing career. I hope he finds a spot. I don’t know if it’s going to be with us.”
So the real questions now become: (1) whether the Seahawks’ interest in Kaepernick is legitimate; (2) if so, whether they will offer him a job; (3) if so, how much they will offer; and (4) why would they make it publicly known that they’re making a move on signing Kaepernick as a backup given that other teams could be inclined to jump into the fray?