Giants Owner Doesn't Think Colin Kaepernick Is Being Blackballed, Employs At Least Two Inferior Quarterbacks
TMZ recently asked New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch if he thought Colin Kaepernick was being blackballed by the NFL. Tisch said no and smartly changed the direction of the very brief conversation by saying that he is all about the New York Giants. Here’s the thing – the Giants currently have to – maybe three – quarterbacks on their roster who are inferior to Colin Kaepernick.
The Giants quarterback depth chart currently features Eli Manning, Geno Smith, Josh Johnson and Davis Webb. Manning is the incumbent and as close as the Giants have to a modern-day legend. Webb, a 3rd round pick, will make the team this year unless something crazy happens or there is an injury. We don’t know for sure that Webb won’t be better at football than Colin Kaepernick. As for Josh Johnson and Geno Smith, there is no absolutely no proof – either empirical, anecdotal or statistical – that either of those guys are better football players than Colin Kaepernick.
In fact it’s not even worth anyone’s time to compare the stats of Colin Kaepernick and Josh Johnson because Johnson doesn’t even have the resume of Johnny Manziel. Johnny Football, the second-most highly-publicized unemployed quarterback, has more career touchdown passes (7 to 5), fewer career interceptions (7 to 10), and a higher career completion percentage (57% to 54.2%) on more career pass attempts (258 to 177) than Johnson. And he’s done it all more recently than Johnson who last appeared in an NFL game in 2013. (The same year Kaepernick took the 49ers to their second straight NFC Championship game.)
That’s why Johnson will probably be cut next month as the Giants go with 26-year old Geno Smith, a guy who is statistically better than Johnny Manziel… and that’s where his resume pretty much ends. Smith is nowhere near as good as Kaepernick and couldn’t beat out Ryan Fitzpatrick for a job with the Jets. He most recently inspired this glowing article before he signed with the Giants. Via the New York Post:
"Smith might be the least equipped person to play in New York, an immature and insecure guy filled with self-delusion. His litany of missteps on and off the field for the past four years has been well-chronicled. The reality is that New York is no place for a flawed, thin-skinned quarterback. Truth be told, no major market makes sense for Smith. He was an embarrassment for the Jets. He would be the same for the Giants by saying or doing something stupid because, well, he’s currently a 26-year-old child. His soundtrack has been predictable through the years. Screw up. Recite textbook mea culpas. Screw up again. Blame the media."
That was written four months ago. Maybe that’s why Johnson actually has a shot to make the Giants roster over Smith. Because Johnson is a veteran. He’s been around the league. He’s experienced. Just not in actual games. The Giants first signed Johnson in September 2016 and he dressed for 2 whole games last season. So he a leg up on Smith in that he should already know the Giants offense that he never participated in last year.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick, 29, started 11 games for a truly horrible team last season and managed 16 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions. It simply boggles the mind that lesser players sit on rosters because of Kaepernick’s politics. It’s franchise malpractice to employ players when affordable upgrades are available. And when one of those guys gets cut before the regular season, they’re both far more likely to end up on another team than Kaepernick and it obviously has nothing to do with football.