Colin Kaepernick Universally Hated By NFL Front Offices, May Never Play For An NFL Team Again?

Mike Freeman of B/R spoke with a number of NFL executives about QB Colin Kaepernick and several of them said they don’t want Kaepernick on their team.

“I don’t want him anywhere near my team,” one front office executive told Freeman. “He’s a traitor.”

The executives all estimated that 90 to 95 percent of NFL front offices feel the same way they do about Kaepernick.

One of them went as far to say that he hasn’t seen this much collective dislike among front office members for a player since Rae Carruth, who’s in prison for plotting to murder his pregnant girlfriend.

Another said he would consider resigning his owner asked him to sign Kaepernick.

“In my career, I have never seen a guy so hated by front office guys as Kaepernick,” one general manager told Freeman of Kaepernick.

After speaking with these executives, Freeman believes Kaepernick may never play for another NFL team.

There’s already plenty of questions about Kaepernick’s future with the 49ers, but it sounds like there may not be a market for him, even if the 49ers elect to move on from him.

According to Freeman there’s a belief that the 49ers will release Kaepernick in a week or so. In fact, sources close to Kaepernick have told Freeman that he fully expected to be released by San Francisco after everyone became aware of his decision to sit during the National Anthem as a protest.

Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com recently mentioned there’s a “realistic shot” the 49ers could put Kaepernick “on ice” this season to protect against his injury guarantees kicking in next year.

This would be a similar situation to what the Redskins did with Robert Griffin III last year.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sport said this past weekend that Kaepernick faces a “very, very big uphill battle” to make the 49ers.

“Regardless of politics or not, he has a very, very big uphill battle to make this team,” Glazer said, via Pro Football Talk. “I’d be shocked if he’s on the 49ers by the time this season ends. It has nothing to do with political views whatsoever. He lost a ton of weight this offseason, had three surgeries, couldn’t work out, lost that double threat, that size-speed ratio. No political views, he just hasn’t been effective. He’s regressing as a player. I’d be shocked if he’s on this roster by the end of this year. He may not be on it in the next two weeks.”

San Francisco could save a portion of his $11.9 million salary, since it includes offset language.

While it sounds like playing Kaepernick doesn’t appear to be in their plans, it’s worth mentioning that this would be a big risk for San Franscisco, as his 2017 salary of $14.5 million could become fully guaranteed before the 49ers could release him.

Kaepernick, 28, is in the third year of his seven-year, $126.97 million contract that included $61 million guaranteed and stands to make a base salary of $11.9 million for the 2016 season.

While those numbers are impressive on their own, the contract is essentially a pay-as-you-go agreement that includes ways for San Francisco to walk away with limited repercussions, as long as Kaepernick is healthy.

In 2015, Kaepernick threw for 1,615 yards while completing 59.3 percent of his passes to go along with six touchdowns and five interceptions over the course of eight games. He also added 228 yards rushing and a touchdown.

We’ll have more regarding Kaepernick and his future with the team as the news is available.