Ebony Bird
FanSided

The Kaepernick Debate: Football move, or business decision?

By Chris Schisler

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 24: Colin Kaepernick LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 24: Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers walks to the field before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 24, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 24: Colin Kaepernick LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 24: Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers walks to the field before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 24, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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JACKSONVILLE, FL – SEPTEMBER 25: (L – R) Shahid Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Steve Bisciotti , owner of the Baltimore Ravens talk prior to an NFL game on September 25, 2016 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL – SEPTEMBER 25: (L – R) Shahid Khan, owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Steve Bisciotti , owner of the Baltimore Ravens talk prior to an NFL game on September 25, 2016 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /

 The Cons:

While Harbaugh’s job is to win football games, Bisciotti’s responsibility is to do the best thing for the franchise. There is a very large faction of the Ravens fan base that would be offended, upset and turned off by the addition of Kaepernick. Patriotism is a big deal when you live in a country that affords you life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While free speech is integral to the rights of Americans, free speech doesn’t mean there isn’t cost to what you say or do. Nobody likes to be disrespected. To many fans, when Kaepernick kneels during the anthem it is disrespecting the country and so they themselves feel dissed.

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Signing Kaepernick would create a storm. I’d like to say the storm would go away if Flacco ended up not missing any of the action. I’d like to say it, but I’m not that naive. As long as Kaepernick remains linked to the team by rumor or by contract there will be contempt from fans. Winning games is the job of a football team. Winning usually helps the bottom line of the business, but Kaepernick could do some serious damage to the brand.

If Kaepernick ended up uprooting Flacco (which isn’t likely but also isn’t unimaginable) the Ravens would be stuck eating Flacco’s very large contract. That is not a situation the Ravens want to be in. In an ideal world, the Ravens wouldn’t need Kaepernick. In reality, they might need him after all.

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