NFL Notes: Colin Kaepernick, Bills, Browns, Steelers

Colin Kaepernick

• Peter King of TheMMQB.com believes the best fit for free agent QB Colin Kaepernick is with the Jaguars.
• King mentions that Blake Bortles‘ poor performance in 2016 is enough for the team to bring in a veteran option like Kaepernick.
• King also believes the reports that teams are concerned about Kaepernick’s vegan diet is the “stupidest kind of nonsense.” King adds that Tom Brady is a near-vegan.

Bills

• Ian Rapoport reports that the Bills will host Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes for a pre-draft visit next week.

Browns

Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta explained that their approach to rebuilding the franchise is to accumulate more draft picks that will give them as many opportunities as possible to hit on players.

“We’ve looked ourselves in the mirror and said, ‘Do we think that we are actually superhuman when it comes to picking players?’ And we pretty easily answered that with a resounding no,” DePodesta tells Peter King. “So how are we going to increase our chances? We need to have more picks. So, if we have the same number of picks every year as everyone else, we don’t expect do better than anyone else.”

King mentions that this is reminiscent of what Jimmie Johnson did with the Cowboys years ago.

“That’s good,” Johnson tells King of the Browns’ strategy to accumulate draft picks. “There’s strength in numbers. I always wanted to have more picks in the middle rounds and at the end, because you can build a good team with the role players you get in the third, fourth and fifth rounds. With the Browns now, with all those picks, really, you’re one free-agent class and one draft from being a contender.

“But I’ll tell you, here’s the danger of having so many picks: You think, ‘We’ve got so many picks, let’s move up and take that guy with a little risk.’ You think you’ve got so many picks and you can afford to waste them on guys. I never looked at it that way. You have to look at every pick like it’s the only one you’ve got. Like I’ve told Bill Belichick, ‘You don’t have to use ’em this year. Bank ’em. Trade ’em.’ He knows. One time he told me he had a good team, and he had some extra picks, and he was afraid the guy they’d take might not be good enough to make his team. Fine. You don’t like what’s there? You can always find someone to take your four this year for a three next year. Like I said, bank ’em.”

Steelers

• The Steelers are hosting  Tennessee QB Josh Dobbs, Northern Illinois WR Kenny Golladay, Texas A&M WR Joshua Reynolds and Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes for pre-draft visits on Monday. (Bob Labriola)