Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick does not believe Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest is the reason he’s currently out of the NFL.
Vick told Jason Whitlock on FS1 that he thinks the real reason Kaepernick can’t find a team to sign him is that Kaepernick didn’t play well enough in the last two years, as well as that teams are looking more for a pocket passer than a mobile quarterback like Kaepernick is (and like Vick was).
“It has nothing to do with him being blackballed,” Vick said. “The gesture that he made last year when he took the stand to do what he did, listen, we all appreciated it, we respected it, and it was a good thing. I really think the stand that he took has nothing to do with him not having a job playing in the National Football League right now. And being frank, Colin didn’t have the best two years his last two seasons. It wasn’t as productive as what we’ve seen him do. And maybe it was due to coaching changes and musical chairs in the positions around him and players, but I think in terms of him getting back on the field, it’s going to have to be a team that suits his skill set and what he does well: mobility inside and outside of the pocket, making plays with his feet, maybe a little bit of the wildcat -- whatever they want to call it -- mixed in, but it has to be some kind of scheme that helps Kaepernick and that team in terms of productivity. Any other type of offense I don’t think will help him right now because it’s going to take him so long to adjust and learn the system, protections, blitzes, what to look for, receivers, that type of camaraderie doesn’t happen overnight.”
Vick did say he’s surprised no team is willing to give Kaepernick a shot as a backup, and he doesn’t doubt Kaepernick’s commitment to football. But Vick also thinks Kaepernick may lack what teams are looking for in their quarterbacks.
“We don’t know his commitment, his dedication to the game right now. Unless you talk to Colin personally, you probably won’t know. I still think his heart is in football. He’s fairly young,” Vick said. “He still has football left in him, but it’s still predicated on what teams want in the quarterback position.”
With training camps opening soon, there still hasn’t been a team to step forward and say Kaepernick has what it wants in a quarterback, even in a backup quarterback.