Michael Bennett says it's obvious that Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed by NFL
It's been over three months since Colin Kaepernick officially became a free agent, and in that time, he's somehow only visited with exactly one team about a possible job: the Seattle Seahawks.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out between Kaepernick and the Seahawks. Although Pete Carroll admitted that Kaepernick's a "fantastic football player," the Seahawks decided to sign quarterback Austin Davis instead.
For many fans, Seattle's decision to pass on Kaepernick was more proof that the quarterback is being blackballed by the NFL's 32 teams. It's not just fans who believe that Kaepernick's being blackballed, either -- Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett also believes it.
During an interview with Power 105.1 FM's The Breakfast Club this week, Bennett was asked flat out if the thought Kaepernick was being blackballed.
"Of course I think Kaepernick's being blackballed," Bennett said.
Bennett also added that Kaepernick's decision to kneel for the national anthem as a form of protest against police brutality rubbed some people the "wrong way."
"Obviously, all the stuff to do with the issues, I think nobody likes race and politics in sports," Bennett said. "I think it's one of the things that nobody really wants to talk about. For him to bring up race and politics in sports, I think it struck a lot of people in the wrong way. You watch the people that really watch football, it's middle America and the people that buy tickets to the game aren't really African-American people, and for him to bring that into that crowd was one thing that people felt like shouldn't of been there."
As for how "real" things got between the Seahawks and Kaepernick, Bennett says that Kap actually thought he was going to get signed.
"I talked to him, he thought it was really going to happen, and then towards the end, they decided to go with Austin [Davis], so that was really one of those shocking things," Bennett said.
The Seahawks defensive lineman is one of the few people who's had contact with Kaepernick this offseason and has been willing to talk about it.
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Although there was some chatter that the Seahawks might've passed on Kaepernick because they didn't want to bring in competition for Russell Wilson, Bennett doesn't see things that way.
The Seahawks defensive lineman says that Kap would've fit in perfectly as the team's backup quarterback.
"I thought Kap would be a good player on our team. I wish he would've signed with us because we would've had a good backup quarterback after Russell Wilson," Bennett said.
Despite his friendship with Kaepernick, Bennett is still a staunch supporter of Wilson.
"We can't win a game without Russell Wilson," Bennett said this week, via ESPN.com. "Russell Wilson is a top-five quarterback in the NFL. We cannot win a game without a guy like that."
As for Kaepernick, despite Bennett's feelings about the situation, not everyone on his team agrees that the quarterback is being blackballed.
After the Seahawks signed Davis, Doug Baldwin said he wasn't completely buying the talk that teams are colluding against Kaepernick.
"I can't say that it doesn't [factor in] completely," Baldwin said, via ESPN.com. "I think yeah, to some degree. But it's really minor. There's 32 teams out there. Not all of them really care about that. So I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to have a job here rather quickly."
Everyone from Baldwin to Bennett to Drew Brees to Jim Harbaugh seems to agree that Kaepernick should have a job in the NFL, which means if he doesn't have one soon, that's not going to be a good look for the league.