Was Colin Kaepernick set up to be the focus of negative publicity just prior to contract talks that could, considering his awesome performance, and zero off-field issues to this point, make him one of, if not the, highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL?
TMZ’s giant blog mistake (Harvey Levin, where are you?) opens the door for us to think the unthinkable and ask what’s really going on with this flurry of bad news posts about an incident that, on its surface, does look like a set up to this blogger.
And if you did not know about TMZ’s error, here it is:
Consider the timing of an incident where a woman who had a prior sexual relationship, but not a current one, with Colin Kaepernick, visits Ricardo Lockette’s place at The Viceroy, located at Apt. 4710 in the Viceroy, 485 Brickell Ave., according to The Miami Herald, initiates drinking, reportedly smokes weed, and then, according to later reports, is asked to leave Lockette’s place, and fails to do so, stripping naked – so Ricardo calls 911.
Think about the timing of this.
We have Colin’s amazing rise as a San Francisco 49ers QB. He’s taken the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game two of the last three years, as the starter. He played in a Super Bowl in 2013 that was one blown call away from a comeback victory in New Orleans. On top of all of that, he’s had no off-field issues at all.
Perfect.
But, first now, in 2014, we have San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh saying that he could coach Johnny Manziel, and would “welcome the challenge”. “[He] sees the field like nobody I’ve ever seen see the field in college football,” said Coach Harbaugh, “You’d love to work with that.”
No praise for Colin Kaepernick was issued during that talk.
And, second, if it’s not that, then it’s the rather insulting idea of trading him.
The 49ers let slip trade rumors about Colin Kaepernick, and all the way back to last fall.
And in this update, I will link to examples of trade rumors like here, and here, and here at ESPN.
But the latest content, just last week, has San Francisco trying to land Johnny Manziel by trading Colin.
Niners defenders will point to organization general manager Trent Baalke’s words that they have to get a deal done with their star OB, but he said that back at the NFL Annual Meeting in Miami, and before the new round of negative publicity started.
And that meeting was in Miami, right? That’s where the woman lives. It’s also where the incident later took place.
It just looks like a set-up, this thing. Someone who has a vested interest in reducing Colin’s stock pays this woman to go and visit him while he’s in town, then “act a fool” as they say on the street, and eventually get herself in a situation where she talks to police – doesn’t implicate Colin, but just causes bad headlines.
You’d have to be a fool to think that issue would not come into contract talks. “Well, Colin, we love you, but we’re concerned with the company you keep.” His defense would be that his sponsors and fans stand behind him, and he would be right to be so angry he’d walk out of the meeting.
Famed sports agent, and friend, Leigh Steinberg has said “Don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal.”
If I were Colin, I’d test the 49ers and see how badly they wanted to keep me. Right now, they’ve pushed the leverage from his side to their side – he’s got to push it back to his side.
Stay tuned.