On Wednesday, the Ravens announced that they’ll soon be signing quarterback Robert Griffin III. On Thursday, the team’s General Manager and head coach will be questioned under oath in a grievance filed by another quarterback who ultimately wasn’t offered a job.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh will be questioned at the team’s facility on Thursday, as part of Colin Kaepernick’s collusion grievance. Kaepernick has the right to be present for the event, if he so chooses. (He attended the deposition of Texans owner Bob McNair in Houston.)
It’s possibly not a coincidence that the Ravens disclosed that they’ve worked out Griffin that they’ll sign him next week one day before these depositions. With the Ravens offering Griffin a contract last year (but not offering one to Kaepernick), Newsome and Harbaugh already were going to be grilled about their preference of Griffin to Kaepernick. Making it known that Griffin soon will be joining the team provides a degree of transparency that can’t make things worse, and that possibly will make things better. With Griffin’s eventual addition to the roster out in the open, neither Newsome nor Harbaugh will be tempted to get cute (which witnesses often tend to do) when asked about Griffin vs. Kaepernick. The fact that they’ll be signing Griffin slams the door on any effort to engage in verbal swordplay regarding what would have been hypothetical or potential interest in Griffin.
Regardless, Newsome and Harbaugh will be asked plenty of questions about why the team deemed Griffin to be a better option than Kaepernick. Those answers will then become part of the broader collection of evidence that eventually will be massaged by Kaepernick’s lawyers into support for his claim that the NFL’s teams colluded to keep him unemployed because of his role at the forefront of the protests that occurred during the national anthem before games.