Colin Kaepernick is back!…. in Madden and has the highest free agent overall rating
Colin Kaepernick will return to #Madden21 ? @EAMaddenNFL pic.twitter.com/4Q00LVDkAb — ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2020
Okay this makes perfect sense actually. Kaepernick has said he wants to return to play in the NFL, he hasn’t retired, which means he is a free agent. Free agents are featured in Madden so in reality he should be included in the game. Now what doesn’t make sense is this…
Colin Kaepernick's return rating of 81 on Madden is higher than the initial Madden 21 ratings for 17 of 32 Week One NFL starting quarterbacks https://t.co/7lcxsAJcIG — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 8, 2020
He’s got a higher rating in Madden than 17 of the 32 starters! How is that even possible? I can somewhat understand how he’d be rated higher than the rookie quarterbacks and some of the second year quarterbacks, but how is a guy that hasn’t played in 3 years rated higher than former MVP Cam Newton? Where is Madden getting the tape on Kaepernick to give him this rating? How does he go from a 75 overall in Madden 17 to an 81 overall after three years of not playing? What are the Madden rating guys watching that no one else is that gives them the idea to rate him above all these guys? I need answers.
Free agent QB Colin Kaepernick will have a higher Madden rating than the following starting QBs: Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Cam Newton, Ryan Tannehill, Josh Allen, Derek Carr, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Jared Goff and Joe Burrow. https://t.co/XRZKPVKHCr — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) September 8, 2020
Half these guys have been in the league for as long, or longer, than Kaepernick has been out of the NFL. I’ll take current experience over past experience any day. Yeah yeah experience is experience but I couldn’t see Kaepernick being signed by any team that currently has one of the QB’s on this list.
I genuinely can’t think of a single team that would sign Colin Keapernick for the starting, hell even backup, quarterback job. It has nothing to do with his kneeling or anything related to that. It has everything to do with a recent influx of young talent at the QB position, and the fact he hasn’t played in three years. There probably hasn’t been a single NFL player that has been out of the league for three straight years that made a successful comeback.
Take a look at the last three #1 overall picks. Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, and Baker Mayfield. The Cardinals wouldn’t bring in Kaepernick because he’d be direct competition to their second year QB that they want to develop for the long term, same goes for the Bengals and rookie QB Joe Burrow. Any team with a QB within their first 3, maybe even 4, years of experience won’t be signing Kaepernick so that they can develop the QB they drafted. Competition is great, iron sharpens iron and all that, but to have the full support of the your team behind you as a young QB and leader is probably a lot better.
Then there’s the fact that Colin hasn’t played in the NFL for 3 years. The NFL has changed a lot in three years. Schemes change, defenses adapt, and new players that can do what Kaepernick did, only better, have entered the league. Does Lamar Jackson ring a bell? He plays very similar to Kaepernick in the sense that he can and will break a defense with his arm but he’s just as dangerous on the ground. Same thing with Kyler Murray. Seriously in the last three years almost every team has drafted a QB, or acquired one via trade or free agency, that can play just as good if not better than Kaepernick. Could I reach a bit and come up with a team or two that could sign him as the backup, sure. Saying that not a single NFL team needs Colin to be the starting QB isn’t the biggest reach in the world though.
Okay, maybe the Bears could have used Kaepernick, could have. The fact that they traded for Nick Foles and his $21 million dollar contract only for Mitchell Trubisky to be the starter is objectively hilarious. Now they’ve got to pay Trubisky the last year of his rookie deal, which isn’t cheap since he was drafted 2nd overall, and they have to pay Foles to ride pine. No way they could afford Kaepernick as well.