Giants attending Colin Kaepernick workout, could he really sign?

According to NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo, the New York Giants will send representation to former quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s workout on Saturday. It could have “giant” implications if they sign him.

While the New York Giants are not the only teams are rumored to be present, with the Falcons, Bengals, Cowboys, Lions, Patriots and Miami Dolphins also scheduled to attend, they are among the most interesting. To rewind, Colin Kaepernick’s representatives said back in October that many NFL teams showed no interest, but emphasized that Kaepernick was in-shape and ready to workout for teams. Many thought this was the end of that storyline. They were wrong.

On Tuesday, the NFL sent out a memo that informed every NFL team that the NFL itself was holding a private workout for Kaepernick on Saturday, Nov. 16th and every club had “the opportunity to evaluate his current readiness and level of interest in resuming his NFL career.”

Even Kaepernick was surprised by this, sending out this tweet:

So where do the Giants fit into this confusing, almost seemingly public relations stunt mess?

They fit in as a team in need of a backup quarterback, with Eli Manning presumably retiring or signing with another team after this season, and Alex Tanney with absolutely zero significant starting experience under his belt. If you wipe out the media frenzy involved with Kaepernick, a potential move involving him makes total sense for Big Blue considering what they have at the quarterback position behind Daniel Jones.

Kaepernick had 58 total games started from 2011-2016 and had an 88.4 career quarterback rating to his departure from the NFL in 2016. Kaepernick would be the only quarterback under 30 (he was 29 in 2016) in NFL history to depart from the NFL permanently with a quarterback rating over 90. The next closest was David Garrard who played his last year with Jaguars at 32 with a quarterback rating over 90. While stats never tell the complete story, they at least give a very rough summary and that summary is clear. Kaepernick is good enough to play in the NFL, even the Giants’ owner John Mara stated before the 2017 season that he believed Kaepernick had “some good football left in him.”

But ultimately, do the Giants sign Colin Kaepernick? I think the answer is going to be no. This is considering the media flood that would come along with him and it will not be worth it for a player who may never touch the field. The Giants are historically a team that values their privacy, exemplified by John Mara speaking out against the cameras of “Hard Knocks” entering the Giants’ doors and how teams should not be forced to participate. If Kaepernick was an above-average starter, he may be starting on a team at this very moment. But Kaepernick recorded a 61.9 grade according to Pro Football Focus in his final season, good enough for 26th in the league. That is insufficient to warrant the media frenzy, especially considering he’s been out of the NFL a few years now.

While the Giants likely will not sign Kaepernick, there is one team I find that stands out among the rest of the teams attending his workout.

The Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins have struggled greatly at the quarterback position this season, switching between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen with neither looking like the solution at the position. Combine this with the unorthodox moves the Dolphins have made when it comes to the Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Kenyan Drake trade deals, this makes further sense. The Dolphins were the first ones to confirm their presence at the Saturday workout but their GM, Brian Flores, said he was content with Miami’s quarterback situation but that he would be open to improvements.

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To top it off – even though I’m completely neutral on the matter – it’s not a secret that Republicans usually do not support Kaepernick movement and Democrats do. Further expounding, Miami is a historically Democratic city that would seem to be open to supporting Kaepernick if the Dolphins did sign him to a deal, meaning there would not be as much backlash as what would be present in the Giants’ situation.

Many thought that the Colin Kaepernick saga was done when his final knee hit the ground in his last season in 2016, but his NFL storyline has not quite concluded yet.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Giants are legitamate with their ‘interest’.