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Baltimore Ravens: The ship has sailed on signing Colin Kaepernick

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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The media circus around Colin Kaepernick and the Baltimore Ravens is starting to wind down. The reason for this is that the ship has sailed for the Ravens signing the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

The Baltimore Ravens are not going to sign Colin Kaepernick. There was a time when signing Kaepernick made some sense. Joe Flacco was out for an undefined amount of time and Kaepernick was and always will be more talented than Mallett. Furthermore having Greg Roman and Jim Harbaugh’s brother as an assistant coach and head coach respectively, made this a good fit for Kaepernick the football player.

While there was a reason the Ravens became at the center of the Kaepernick drama, their time in this game of cat and mouse is over. The Ravens interest in Kaepernick probably ended with the other fires Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh had to attend to. When the Ravens signed Austin Howard they were left with the same amount of cap space as the amount of patience most of us have with the Kaepernick drama.

Then the Ravens restructured the contract of Jimmy Smith. Kaepernick supporters probably thought this was to make room for the controversial quarterback. It wasn’t. Days later, the Ravens announced that rookie guard Nico Siragusa would be out for the year. Soon after that Alex Lewis was lost for the season as well. When you look at the desperation with the Ravens offensive line, how could you argue that Kaepernick should still be part of the plan?

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Avoid the drama now that we have clarity on Flacco’s return:

If Steve Bisciotti’s team is going to make any moves, you would have to think it would help the offensive line. That’s some easy logic to follow. It was reported by ESPN’s Dianna Russini, that Bisciotti was blocking the move to sign Colin Kaepernick. Newsome released a subsequent statement saying that this was untrue. Even if it was untrue, why would Bisciotti be more inclined to sign Kaepernick now?

The Baltimore Ravens have been through enough drama this year, and they haven’t even gotten to the regular season. They lost Darren Waller to a suspension. John Urschel retired with fear of CTE being a major reason for his decision. The Ravens have lost Kenneth Dixon, Dennis Pitta, Crockett Gillmore, Tavon Young, Alex Lewis, Nico Siragusa and Tim White for the season due to injuries. The Ravens need to start making positive story lines. When Flacco returns in week one, the Ravens hopefully won’t need their backup quarterback. There is no sense in becoming the permanent center of Kaepernick controversy if he is just going to sit on the bench.

The Bottom Line:

The Ravens don’t have the resources to sign players that they may not need. If the Ravens were going to find a better back up to Mallett, they had to do it before the first preseason game. Timing is very important in this conversation. If the Ravens signed Kaepernick when there was doubt about Flacco’s imminent return, early into camp it would have made sense. It would have made sense from a football standpoint, however the Ravens were never going to sign Kaepernick if they didn’t need their backup for an extended time.

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Throughout this entire ordeal, I have maintained that the Ravens should view this solely as a football decision. The political/social stance should be put to the side. Roster moves need to be made with as little emotion and as much logic as possible. There was a time when signing Kaepernick made sense for the Ravens. That time is over; the situation has clearly changed. The Ravens need to save any cap space for the offensive line. Flacco is expected to be back for week one. The reward is no longer worth the risk.

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