For three years sports radio hosts have been arguing the pros and cons of signing Colin Kaepernick and of course in typical sports radio fashion the fights are loud, boisterous and polarizing.
- “Kaepernick is in great shape and is able to play”
- “He’s a great QB and better than most of the starters in the league”
- “Kaepernick isn’t playing because he isn’t any good. His won/loss record over the last three years was 11-24.”
- “Kaepernick is a distraction and teams don’t need that kind of circus when they’re trying to win games”.
The problem with these comments is they are purely speculation from guys whose entire wardrobe was curated at charity golf outings and from SWAG bags at high-profile sporting events. They’re hot takes without any substantiation and at the end of the day they don’t matter. That being said, as someone who refuses to deal in “hot takes” I will break my silence and give you one now. There is only one way to settle these arguments it’s really simple.
Sign Colin Kaepernick now.
Signing Kaepernick is not an implied political statement and should not be construed as such. I think we can all agree he was ahead of most of the world when he first took a knee a couple years back, and while it took the rest of us far too long to fully understand the point he was trying to make, we now know his issues are all of our issues. To me signing Kaepernik is about shutting up the “yell so loud you don't need a radio to hear them” sports talkers who are quite possibly the most annoying people on the planet.
Here is my reasoning. First, we will know within minutes if his signing is indeed a distraction. The media will converge on the team facilities like a swarm of angry bees and how the team handles it will determine whether he is a distraction or not. Second, we will all know whether or not he’s capable of playing at the highest level of professional football. As it stands a lot of people believe he can but no one knows if he can, and we will never know for certain until he suits up and takes the field.
So sign Colin Kaepernick now. Let the actions speak louder than arbitrary words. He deserves a shot to play and we deserve sports radio shows where hosts use their inside voices. To me that's a win-win.
Photo: MICHAEL ZAGARIS / SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS / GETTY IMAGES