Red Zone Play: Why Not Kaepernick?

Bob McNair lost his team when he made his prison/inmates comments, whether they were taken out of context or not.

Bill O’Brien lost his offense when Deshaun Watson went down in practice – possibly as a result of an uncalled illegal hit on the quarterback against the Seahawks.

Mike Vrabel lost his defense when J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus went down with season ending back-to-back injuries.

So at this point, the question becomes what else is there to lose?

Colin Kaepernick, who hangs around NFL stories like the ghost of Tim Tebow, had his best years when playing in an offense that utilized the high mobility of the quarterback. An offense that let him rip a crazy bomb downfield on occasion and one that had a highly fluid pocket.

Sound familiar?

While the sensationalized stories are that people won’t sign Kaep due to his socio-political stances (or kneels, as it were), the true undercurrent is that many coaches and scouts don’t think he has it anymore – if he ever did in the first place.

But surely it can’t be worse than trotting out Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage? Certainly O’Brien doesn’t have such high standards. If he does, there’s no forensic evidence to back it up.

Bill O’Brien

“Colin Kaepernick's a good football player [but he] hasn't played football in a while.”

The same could be said about Matt McGloin – well, except the “good football player” part, as that remains to be proven on an NFL stage. McGloin did manage to go 6 of 11 for 21 whole yards the last time he got in a game, so there’s that.

At this point, Rick Smith’s best move might be to shelve and bubble wrap Savage in the hopes of trading him for a draft pick or packaging him with a few lower picks to get one higher next year. Tom would look great in Cleveland orange. Then O’Brien can start T.J. “Bengal Killer” Yates while Kaepernick gets up to speed.

Signing and putting Kaepernick in would bring the Texans a lot of attention, allow McNair to show he’s not that man he’s recently been painted to be and, most importantly for the franchise, give them a better chance to win than Tom Savage or Matt McGloin offer.

Brian Cushing is the longtime leader of the defense. When he’s out, J.J. Watt fills that void.

Deshaun Watson is the undeniable new leader of the offense.

Without any of these three players on the field, it’s like a general-less army wading into battle with little fire and no one to give the impassioned Braveheart speech that turns 22 players into a cohesive team.

Kaepernick would, at least, unite the disgruntled players – the ones still holding a grudge against McNair for his ill-advised comments. Bill O’Brien could use that as a spark to ignite something other than the five-alarm dumpster fire this season is trending towards.

If nothing else, having a highly mobile quarterback like Kaep in the backfield will allow O’Brien to run someone besides Lamar Miller up the A-Gap when the game is on the line. Who knows? As big as Kaep is, maybe he dives for that first down and saves the day.

Here’s your chance to weigh in on whether you want to see Colin Kaepernick in Battle Red. Please keep your comments civil and sportsmanlike; otherwise you’ll be flagged and possibly ejected from the game.