Joe Montana ‘Not Sure’ Whether Kaepernick Plays in NFL Again

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 11: Joe Montana attends the FanDuel Fantasy Golf Classic on July 11, 2
Getty Images/ Michael Loccisano

Joe Montana is not exactly high on Colin Kaepernick’s chances of ever playing in the NFL again. In an interview with the SportingNews.com, the Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion, outlined the reasons why bringing in the former anthem-protestor might become problematic for a football team.

“I’m not sure. I think [if] there’s an injury somewhere, he probably gets in. In most cases, you look at Tim Tebow—a great guy and everybody was talking about him. But what it comes down to is 40 percent completion or even in the low 50s, you can’t win in the league with that. You won’t be in the league very long. It comes down to his play as much as anything.

“Everyone thinks it is the stance he took; one of the things you don’t look for is distractions in the locker room. You can go back to Bill Walsh and as soon as there were guys that weren’t fitting in what he was looking for, it didn’t matter how good you were. You weren’t on the team for very long. You have to have people who want the same thing, fighting for the same thing and willing to put in the time.”

In her article on Montana’s comments, Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams points out that while Montana seems to think Kaepernick poses problems for teams on and off the field, Kaepernick’s play on the field suggests he should be on a roster.

Williams says, “Kaepernick, though, completed 59.2 percent of his passes last season, just off his career average of 59.8. He had 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. While his record as a starter was 1-10, he was on one of the worst teams in the NFL.

“There are many quarterbacks on NFL rosters with worse resumes to be sure.”

Here’s the problem with citing completion percentage as a stat that should signal competence or success. Sam Bradford, someone who would never get confused with Joe Montana, or any quarterback of significant achievement. Bradford led the league in completion percentage last year with a 71.6. So how can that stat be an indicator that Kaepernick should have a job? Especially when his percentage comes in nearly twelve points under Bradford’s?

Does Kaepernick’s 2016 completion percentage compare favorably to his career average? Sure. Is it good enough to serve as smoking gun evidence of NFL competence? Hardly.

More importantly, when is the media going to stop asking this seemingly endless parade of former and current stars to make the case for Kaepernick? Here’s a question: where is Kaepernick?

Why doesn’t the media demand that he make the case for himself one way or the other? Of course, they would have to catch him in those rare moments when he’s not comparing cops to slave catchers, and going to Africa to shame American slavery.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn

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