Considering Colin Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season, he might have to settle for a backup role should he find his way back into the league.
Brian Billick can’t see Kaepernick being satisfied with riding the pine, however. As such, the former NFL head coach believes Kaepernick would be best served by taking his talents to a team that’s expected to have somewhat of an open quarterback competition in training camp.
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“I think New England and Jacksonville, if you look at it from his standpoint, just in terms of opportunity,” Billick said on NFL Network. “Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer in New England and then Gardner Minshew and Mike Glennon in Jacksonville. You talk about an opportunity to be with a team where there might be some flux, might be some meat, where there’s uncertainty at that top spot. I could certainly see where he might be interested in those two teams simply because he’s gonna want to get back on the field. I can’t imagine, as a competitor, he’s gonna be happy with just sitting on the sideline, getting back into a routine and then, ‘I’ll make my move the next year.’ That’d be the prudent way to go, but I think a team like New England and Jacksonville from a standpoint of a competitor like, ‘Hey, I wanna get in there and play right now. I’ll make this happen,’ might be interesting.”
While it’s easy to see where Billick is coming from, the quarterback situation in New England might not be as uncertain as people think. The Patriots appear to like what they have in Stidham, and nearly every indicator has shown the starting job is his to lose. And in the event the 2019 fourth-rounder flames out, Bill Belichick and Co. can turn to Hoyer, who has a good deal of institutional knowledge in Foxboro.
So while Kaepernick potentially could be a good fit in New England, the likelihood of the Patriots actually pursuing the former San Francisco 49ers star doesn’t seem to be very high.
