Pete Carroll received a call from a NFL team regarding Colin Kaepernick. Sure this could be any of the 31 teams but could it be the Cincinnati Bengals? When Kaepernick began kneeling in protest of social injustice and police brutality no Bengals players followed suit, but instead decided to lock arms in unity. In 2018 when Eric Reid was available he had a meeting with the Bengals which consisted primarily of this topic. The Bengals opted not to sign Reid and the speculation was that Mike Brown and the organization did not support kneeling during the National Anthem.
The world has changed entirely since 2017 and it is almost a certainty that players, coaches and staff will be taking a knee in support of BLM during the 2020 (and beyond) season. The Bengals have been a progressive team when it comes to race. Marvin Lewis has been one of the few black head coaches in the NFL and had a 16-year tenure in Cincinnati. The Bengals have been a team of second chances as well. A laundry list of troubled players like Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, Odell Thurman and even Joe Mixon have been embraced by the organization. In the 2000’s the Bengals were known as the team of second chances and redemption.
Kaepernick may make sense from a football standpoint. The Bengals lack veteran depth on its roster, that is not a big secret. Kaepernick has been to a Super Bowl, is able to make plays outside of the pocket and was a really good player during his short career. The downside is that Kaepernick has not played since 2016 and there is going to be rust. He may not be the best player to back Burrow up from a football standpoint with players like Cam Newton and Josh McCown still available. We haven’t signed either of them though so maybe the Bengals just don’t want a veteran on the roster.
Would he make a good mentor for Burrow? Do the Bengals want to bring this much attention to such a young team trying to get their footing?