NFL 2017 Season

Aaron Hernandez committed suicide this morning.

 

Though it is far too early to speculate it was anything other than suicide, this afternoon ESPN changed their reporting to 'found hanged in his cell'. Though I seriously doubt it was anything other than suicide, his lawyers and agents are screaming that he never would've killed himself and they want a full investigation.

Some early legal reports are saying that, because his appeal on the murder conviction was still pending, none of the civil lawsuits pending against him will be able to use his conviction against him in their cases. Him dying basically might've protected his daughter/estate financially, or mitigated some of the damage.

 

In three or four years I'll give you my grade on this year's draft.

 

Pretty sure they were clearing money off their budget this week so they could pay me.

 

Colin Kaepernick has yet to sign with any team. Some argue that his skills are the primary reason. Others argue that it his his stance on social and political issues, demonstrated by his kneeling during the national anthem last year and social activism on social media.

Originally he did have a player option for 2017 with the 49ers, which he opted out of. Reports are that he would've been paid as much as $14.4M had he stayed with the 49ers under that contract. Instead he decided to test free agency. Though a few teams have apparently considered him, and Seattle publicly admitted they brought him in to check out, no one has signed him. There is much discussion of whether or not he is black balled from the NFL for now.

What do you think?
Is he unsigned because of talent, or lack there of? Or is it his social/political stances?
Do you think he'll have a job in the NFL this year as a QB?



Personally, I think he should've stayed in SF for the final year. I think he passed up a ton of money, and an opportunity to get a lot of playing time, thus showcasing his potential for teams. So this dilemma is one of his own making IMO. Second, I do think he'll get picked up at some point in the preseason, or early in the season. So I think a lot of the commentary is just to fill space during the off season.

I also think his lack of a job is BOTH because of a question about his talent AND his social and political stances. It seems that he is holding out for an opportunity to start for a team. There are 32 starting QB jobs in the NFL. I think any reasonable NFL observer would admit that, at best, Kap is somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as talent and potential for 2017 go. We can all probably agree that he wouldn't walk in and start right away over Rodgers, Brady, Roethlisberger, Newton, Wilson, Brees, Ryan, Palmer, Luck, Dalton, Carr, Rivers, Prescott, Winston, Mariotta, Manning, Stafford, or Flacco, right? So that knocks 18 teams out, which only leaves 14 positions available for him, 13 if you eliminate San Francisco for obvious reasons. So for 18 or 19 teams, his social and political commentary is irrelevant, because they don't have a position to even consider him for. Of the 13 left, you could probably argue that a few believe strongly in the talent potential of their QBs over him, so maybe we are talking about 10 teams? And of those 10, I think it's like half and half when it comes to the social/political thing. Even worst case, we are talking about 10 teams that might now want the extra drama? And at the end of the day, I think injuries, poor QB play, coaches wanting to win now, and front offices fighting for their jobs will over rule any of that, and he'll be signed before Week 3-4.

Thoughts?

 

Back in early March he publicly said that he'll stand for the anthem this year. So in theory that shouldn't be a dispute going forward.

Often I'm pretty skeptical and cynical when it comes to celebrities and their social/political causes and beliefs. But I will say this about Kaepernick, he puts his money where his mouth is. He pledged last year to give $1M of his own money to various causes, and so far I believe he is at/above $700k that he has donated. And his website breaks it down in extreme detail. When he gives to a cause, he also just doesn't say "I gave $25k to Popeye's Homeless Shelter", he says something like $5k went to food, $12k went to remodeling a commercial kitchen, and $8k went to refurbishing the dining room, or whatever. Whether someone agrees with all his causes or not, it does appear that he is at least putting in his own personal time to find ones he feels are worthy, then making sure his money is going to aspects of the cause where it can really do something. One example I saw was him paying for thousands of dollars worth of suits to go to a place that helps parolees seek employment once they are out of prison. If they can't afford the proper clothes for an interview, this group helps.

Honestly, I've never been a huge Kap fan on the field. I thought he was overrated when he was doing well. Not that he was horrible, he just wasn't as good as people like Ron Jaworski said he was. I also believed that having Harbough as his coach also raised his ceiling during those seasons. I don't think he'll ever be a good starting QB on a playoff team again. Some of the actions he's taken, like speaking out about the police then publicly wearing little police piggy socks as a statement, are in bad taste or just dumb. But I don't think he's a hypocrite, and I don't think his statements should be the cause of him not getting a job.

 

All I know is I want 2 things
I want the Raiders to do well again...without getting hurt at the end. (man, that was a downer)

And I want to beat our reigning champ @Borla with NFL picks.