It’s been said thousands of times before, the NFL is a quarterback’s league.
So let’s say you have a choice of three quarterbacks I believe could very well be free agents at the end of the season, Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford, and Colin Kaepernick, who would choose and in what order?
First to examine this, let’s evaluate the feasibility of the premise.
Bradford is the easy one. He’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the season and if he continues to play the same way he has in Philadelphia, he won’t be re-signed by the Eagles.
Washington exercised Griffin’s 2016 5th year option this past offseason. For no reason other than it was the Washington thing to do I’m assuming. The $16.5 million dollar figure it would cost to keep him is guaranteed for injury only. The guy has been the team’s third QB, inactive for most of the season, behind Kirk Cousins and Rex Grossman. I’d say he’ll be released.
Kaepernick is the most intriguing one. He just signed a $126 million dollar contract extension in 2014, but the 49ers gave themselves an out in the team-friendly deal. He can be released this offseason with a little less than seven million dollars lost in what would essentially be a buyout. His contract is set up to be guaranteed for injury only. Why would San Francisco release a guy that took them to back-to-back NFC Championships and a Super Bowl? Good question, well they benched him from Blaine Gabbert. So that shows the little faith they have in Kaepernick. I believe he’ll be gone.
Now, the true question involved.
I’m assuming most folks will jump on Kaepernick. He’s a winner with the most talent of the three, right? I’m not so eager.
My order would look like this: 1.) Bradford 2.) Kaepernick 3.) Griffin
I look at it this way. I think Griffin is shot, at least confidence wise probably physically, too. He may have been my choice two years ago, but now I’m not sure if he can escape that mess in Washington and come out unscathed. If Washington can rebuild, go for it. I’m just not sure that’s feasible.
On to Kaepernick, my hesitation would be simple. He’s not a guy I would want on my team. He appears built to only be effective in a zone read system. Outside of football, the signals are clear. Teammates have called him self-centered, unfocused and questioned his true desire to get better.
That’s a mess of turmoil I don’t want to bring on my roster. Plus, his quarterback vision is smaller than Michael Vick’s in Madden 2006. As Mike Singletary once said about Vernon Davis, “Can’t win with him.”
Now why choose Bradford? Honestly, it was like picking which ugly sweater to wear to a Christmas party. The one thing I can tell about Bradford is the talent is there. He can make some throws that make you say “wow, what a throw.” He can also make some throws that make you say “what was he thinking?”
I think it’s about comfort with Bradford. Comfort with his ACL that has born twice, comfort with receivers and comfort in his system. In Philly, I think it’s an example of fitting a square peg (Bradford) in a circle (Chip Kelly’s zone system).
I’m not sure if Bradford will ever make it as a championship level QB, but he’s the least of three evils.
Cameron Wolfe: 303-954-1891, cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe
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