In an interview with WKNR AM-850, Hue Jackson said that he wanted the Browns to sign Colin Kaepernick in 2017 (via Jeff Schudel of the News Herald). The Browns, of course, did not sign him, and placed rookie Deshone Kizer under center instead.
“I wanted him,” Jackson said Friday. “It just didn’t work out. Obviously, those things do have to work from a finance, draft, whatever all that is. And that wasn’t my decision.”
Jackson may have wanted Kaepernick in 2017, but he didn’t share that opinion publicly at the time. Like most coaches, Jackson skirted questions about the QB and said that he wasn’t being discussed as a serious option. Meanwhile, Jackson didn’t have full control over the 53-man roster. Personnel decisions were ultimately made by Sashi Brown, who served as the Browns’ GM up until December of that year.
Last month, Kaepernick found himself back in the NFL news cycle when the league briefly listed him as “retired” on his remodeled player page. The following day, the NFL changed his status to reflect that he is, in fact, an unrestricted free agent. The odds of Kaepernick returning to the NFL seemed slim just a few weeks ago, but it may not be so far fetched today. Kaepernick, 33 in November, has been training with the intent of returning to the field.
“My desire to play football is still there,” Kaepernick said in February. “I still train five days a week. I’m ready to go, I’m ready for a phone call, tryout, workout at any point in time. I’m still waiting on the owners and their partners to stop running from this situation. So I hope I get a call this offseason. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Here’s more out of Cleveland:
- Odell Beckham Jr. skipped the bulk of the Browns’ non-virtual 2019 offseason, but he’s been logging on for team activities via Zoom this year, as Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. “He’s all in,’’ offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. “He’s bought in. He’s been there and it’s awesome. It’s good to have him there. It’s good for him.’’ Despite the constant speculation about OBJ’s status with the team, the Browns have maintained that he will be in their plans. Meanwhile, the wide receiver seems to be pretty happy with the Browns’ new regime.
- The Browns beefed up their defensive line depth this offseason, but linebacker remains a question mark, ESPN.com’s Jake Trotter writes. With Christian Kirksey and Joe Schobert out of the picture, the Browns will be relying upon a promising, yet inexperienced group that includes rookie Jacob Phillips, Sione Takitaki, and Mack Wilson. Of course, the Browns aren’t necessarily done upgrading the front seven as they continue to monitor Jadeveon Clowney‘s market.
- Earlier this week, we reflected on Mychal Kendricks‘ brief and bizarre tenure with the Browns.
I could be wrong, but Mayfield is on his 2nd GM and 3rd HC in 3 years? Next up the new HC will say ‘I want my own QB’. That’ll be next offseason.
We all watch the same teams lose annually & all pretty much run the same pattern. Hire, fire, hire again, fire again.
Look in not going to tell you Baker is going to be a superstar but he can certainly be the best QB that franchise has had. He isn’t a lost cause just because he isn’t an MVP yet.
I’m not placing blame on Mayfield, rather ownership. What chance does Baker, D Haskins, S Darnold et al have with constant turnover?
I’m actually one of god’s misfortune creatures in that I am a Browns fan, I also follow Minnesota as my closet team. Personally I like Stefanski and I don’t see him packing his bags next offseason, but if Baker Bakers this season at least we know Keemun knows the system and can beyond all reasonable expectation take a talent team to the playoffs.
I’m a Redskins’ fan that lives in Jacksonville. I know the feeling.
Haskins will be the best of those 3
All of those QB’s will need a change of scenery to be successful.
Why because dumb narratives told you that? The Redskins have a great coach now and some good young players. Theres no reason Haskins can’t have success, and its his hometown team who he wants to play for. He is extra motivated to be successful with them. The Jets have even better young talent and were supposed to be competing for the #1 overall pick last year. That team looked so horrifying early on. Once Darnold came back from mono they went from pathetic to almost .500. The fact they won 7 games shows the talent is there. If their revamped o-line holds up, they will be in contention for a playoff spot. There is more to football than memes and narratives.
I hope & pray that a new HC & young QB can undo all of the destruction that Sydner has done. But I have my doubts.
A great coach? Washington? What has he accomplished to be considered “great”
He already is the best QB the rebooted Browns have ever had, he accomplished that by signing a contract!
I know JJ has repeatedly shown his dislike for the “my guy” approach but the problem is that there aren’t coaches around today like Joe Gibbs, who could seemingly win titles no matter who was at QB.
There’s been no coach like Gibbs. He’s the only coach to win a SB or 3, with 3 different QB’s. Best ever.
If a team is hinting that a GM or HC has 1-year to make things happen, they are likely limiting the field of candidates from which to select.
Kap needs to get tryouts from here on out or what Goodell was spouting in support of protests was pure hypocritical garbage. You can’t be in support of a cause and then conspire with owners to keep out somebody who actually peacefully protested for that same cause.
He took money to go away didnt he?
He also needs to lower his asking price I feel. He’ll only get signed for the veterans minimum
He’s been offered work….in every league and turned it down bc he wanted QB1 money.
At this point he’s got to prove he can even still play….or even wants to. No team is going to give him a starting job.
unfortunately none of that matters in this situation. Kaepernick is just not a good enough quarterback to get the kind of money he insist upon having. San Francisco gave him way too much money and He refuses to come off that price. He would rather sit back and use this as an excuse to call people racist.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes
its not conspiracy, its simply that no one really wants him as bad as headlines will make it seem.
If Kaep were a good QB, he’d be in the league even with all the BS that comes with him. He sucks and QBs that suck and have baggage aren’t gonna get a job, period.
He’s not played in 3 seasons that means no snaps, no practices, no learning offenses. Any club visits or signing is for show.
I’ve long thought he was hurting the cause he claimed to care about, but I was wrong and this week proves…Kaepernick won.
He lost the battle and is unlikely to ever play in the NFL again, but he won the war.
The NFL Network this week has been 24/7 George Floyd.
Drew Brees is now publicly taking Kaepernick’s positions, the needle has moved that far.
The NFL has put out so many statements, they are, more or less, his PR team at this point.
yeah no… the silent majority is real. Cancel culture screams to drown out the voices of reason and the nfl network is copying ESPN which is a shadow of its former self.
If the “silent majority” were an actual majority, the NFL would be pandering to you and not them.
They used to…now they don’t. Why?
What do they know that you are missing?
Thoughtful post. Nice job. Your first one. And follow up.
He hasn’t won anything. Brees only proved that he was a weakling and has no spine. He was pressured to say all of that and he caved. By caving to Kaep, the NFL has signed it’s death certificate. Now we’re all just gonna be waiting for it to die.
weakling and has no spine?
Wow dude. How privileged of you
Nice to hear Odells “All in” and has been able to find time to “log Into” Zoom meetings lately-
The whole planet had to shut down so OBJ would attend some meetings on his computer. That’s about as “all in” as you get from Beckham this time of year.
This year is Bakers make it or break it year.
He need to have a positive record or bye bye
Baker on completion percentage is 61.5
Trubisky is 63.5
Baker is 49-35 on TDs to INTs
Trubisky is 48-29
And there passer ratings are basically the exact same
However Trubiskys record is 23-18 and Bakers is 13-17 and yet Trubisky looks likely to be replaced as a starter.
Trubisky has been to the pro bowl, has had two season with positive records, played in the playoffs before and played decently too.
If Baker doesn’t preform well this year he’s out. As for Trubisky I still like him and hope he ends up in a favourable position maybe on the Steelers after Big Ben
Kaepernick final 3 years 41 TD’s and 19 INTs and 59% completion
Kaep also never showed he had the ability to be a real QB. He couldn’t read a defense to save his life and had no touch on the ball. The other 2 have those abilities.
kap: my desire to play football is still there..
XFL: come play football
Kap: nah
CFL: Kap we’d love to have u be a star in our league
Kap: I’ll pass
afl: want to start at qb?
kap: nah
afl: want to coach a team?
kap: nah
afl: want to play football ever again?
kap: na, wait ye
AFL: gotcha!
He’s an NFL quality QB, which he has proven. XFL, CFL, AFL?
Gimme a break.
If Kaep was NFL quality, he’d be in the NFL.
“If Kaep was NFL quality, he’d be in the NFL”
Stop it.
What you really mean to say is “if Kaep didn’t take a knee, he’d be in the NFL”
I mean, kaep hasn’t ever thrown for 30 TDs in a single season. He threw for four yards in the last game he started. He’s just not as good as people have decided.
And Denver tried to get him before he declined his option. He didn’t want to play for the contract extension they offered him to replace his existing deal.
The CFL was wide open but he overthrew them.
lol
“I’m ready for a phone call, tryout, workout at any point in time. I’m still waiting on the owners and their partners to stop running from this situation.”
If I recall the NFL and it’s owners called and put together a tryout and workout just for him then he canceled that one last minute and moved it then he and his followers complained when most teams didn’t show up.
My memory was telling me that something smelled fishy about that league-organized tryout for Kaepernick, and sure enough…
“According to multiple reports, the NFL-sanctioned workout was CONTINGENT on Kaepernick agreeing to a waiver that would prevent him from suing the NFL if he wasn’t signed; that’s ludicrous, and proof that the NFL offered the tryout only so it could sabotage it in a way that would force Kaepernick to react. [emphasis added]”
link to ftw.usatoday.com
“The NFL, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, informed Kaepernick’s reps about the workout on Tuesday. His reps had asked the league for the workout to be on a Tuesday, when most tryouts are held, but the league said no. His reps asked for the workout to be on a later Saturday, but the league said no.
“So now Kaepernick gets to workout on a few days notice (which isn’t a huge problem since he’s been working out five days a week since he’s been out of the NFL) and on a day before most teams will have a game, which means attendance will likely be very low, if anyone shows up at all.”
link to ftw.usatoday.com
Ironic in that Hue was supposed to lead the way in his recent workout for NFL but Kaepernick quickly turned it into such a circus thatHue walked away…
“Jackson may have wanted Kaepernick in 2017, but he didn’t share that opinion publicly at the time.” Is this an insinuation of racism towards Jackson by PFR?
Can you find a report ANYWHERE that contradicts this? If not, it is not racism, it is reporting facts. If so, different story.
If you can dispute the story, I hope you will do so with links.
I don’t respond to bots with Pepe’s in their profile image.
Translated: “No, I cannot factually dispute the story.”
I think its more of a show how little power hue had with the browns and he knew it. There was no point in even him saying anything.
How did you get racism out of that? Are you really that dense?
Kaep is just too risky for any owner to bring on… he’s definitely a back up at this stage. At the risk of guessing.. I’d say Patriots, Steelers, or Tampa Bay could sign him. And still be legit. Brady could go at any minute, so could Roethlisberger, and New England doesn’t have a proven guy.. and I know this will offend people. But Tim Tebow was a proven winner. And just as good an athlete, but no one called him either. Just sayin
“Tim Tebow was a proven winner”. What did he win exactly? Proven?
8-6 in career in nfl.
National championship in ncaa
Heisman trophy
Maybe not a prototype qb
I mean, he (Tebow) has a .500 record in the playoffs. That’s better than many starters in the league. Just goes to show that actual ability matters more than records or stats, because otherwise both he and Kaepernick would be on teams. Just like the above comment says.
Not saying Hue is lying here but didn’t he previously say: “I wanted so and so (Mahomes, Watson, Wentz) but was overruled and it was out of my control? Maybe he did want Kap but the guy has used hindsight multiple times with no evidence to make himself “look” ahead of everyone else. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was also like I wanted to trade up to draft Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara but was overruled, was out of my control.
Jackson is trying to get out from under the poor coaching record he ended up with after agreeing to coach a team that was blatantly tanking for two(at least) entire seasons.So blame the front office for the lousy talent(justifiably) and throw a little revisionist history around so he doesn’t seem so incompetent…………but the Browns got the right guy for that gig.
As a Niner fan, Kap sucked out loud his last two seasons, 2-13 as a starter but more importantly his QBR was under 50 both years. That is second back up kind of performance. For people to say that he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league when he started kneeling is just playing false.
Your team sucked out loud those two seasons. 7-25
Sure Kaep’s numbers were subpar but I’d lay it more on Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly
I’m sorry if you don’t want to hear this, but his play literally didn’t change, my guy. It was a big reason they were bad. He couldn’t make the reads, he didn’t go through progressions, and lost weight. There just wasn’t a better offensive coach to scheme his first reads open to bail him out-and, unlike before, the defense wasn’t good.
Kaepernick had a rocket arm, great speed-size, and didn’t turn the ball over. On the other hand, he never developed any ability to read a defense, did not progress through his reads, and far too often missed on touch throws in favor of rocketing a fastball in its place. Just watch the tape. He was an athlete, but not much of a quarterback. Tomsula and Kelly could have should have done better with the team as a whole, but Kaepernick never developed and didn’t give anyone much to work with on his end.
Not to mention that he seemed to not realize how far above his market value he determined his contract worth. Even you can not argue that Kaepernick was worth $20 million in the 2016 market (check the 2017 QB salaries if you don’t believe me-top ten for Kaep is a stretch even if you like the guy), but that’s reportedly what he demanded from the AAFL two or three years later. Denver wanted him, but not his current price (I think $8 million or so?), and he declined their offer to do a sign and trade. He’s just not as good and not as valuable as people would like him to be.
And, in other news, Hue Jackson says that he told the surgeon general how to cure COVID-19 in February. Can he just shut up and go away?