The Baltimore Ravens Front Office has completely forgotten how to front office
It might have been better if they had said nothing at all, and quietly signed activist-quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the practice squad Sunday afternoon-given him a fair shot and waived him in a fortnight if his level of play demanded it. It would have been better than Baltimore Ravens’ President Dick Cass going on the record to detail how the franchise has polled everyone from fans to sponsors to that one linebacker who won them a Super Bowl (but allegedly did not kill a man that one time) on the burning question of whether or not the team should sign Kaep.
“We want to get a sense of what the attitude is out there and how Colin would handle it if he were to come, how he’d handle it and how that would change people’s views,” Cass said.
Presumably, in the absence of anyone articulating otherwise, the team has consulted everyone but Colin Kaepernick about Colin Kaepernick on whether Colin Kaepernick can keep his shit together playing in the NFL again.
And they did all this with a straight-face while signing a quarterback who in college completed one pass-for a loss before punching his ticket to the NFL only to be waived exactly three days later (although this of course follows exactly one season in the same Arena franchise that produced Kurt Warner). The Ravens later signed a quarterback who has never suited up for a single NFL game and has been waived from three teams since 2016 months after giving a one-year extension valued at two-million dollars to a guy named Ryan Mallett with starting QB Joe Flacco undergoing back surgery.
For his part, Mallett returned the favor by throwing “at least” five interceptions at practice last week and chucking a towel into the air in frustration. It’s still unknown if that pass was picked off as well or if Baltimore will see a return on their investment in the form of so much as a first down completion from Mallett should Flacco miss even a week of the regular season.
But this logic ladder is clearly to tall for Dick Cass, who has less clarity and conviction of taking a chance with a quarterback who played against his team in a Super Bowl four years ago than he did the prospect of giving an opportunity to openly gay defensive end the next season. It seems the revolving door of quarterbacks has bothered Cass and Company to the core, given that they’ve resorted to crowdsourcing personnel decisions-maybe to avert responsibility should fans storm the stadium after they sign and then waive a paperboy from Bethesda. Taken in stride, if the last three decisions made in quarterback personnel management are any indication, this might not be such a bad idea for a front office that has completely forgotten how to do its job.
