It’s quite possible that the media has never attempted to retire a player more often, than they’ve attempted to retire Tom Brady. A fact made all the more insane by the fact that Brady continues to lead his team to the Super Bowl nearly every year.
Though, on Friday morning’s edition of FS1’s First Things First, former Viking and Hall of Famer Cris Carter threw out possibly the most sensational of all possible replacements for Brady. What name did Carter suggest?
None other than Colin Kaepernick.
"The replacement for Tom Brady might not come from the draft. I wouldn't be surprised if the Patriots looked at Kap. The Krafts are very, very fond of Colin Kaepernick. If someone will do it, it will be the people in New England." — @criscarter80 pic.twitter.com/sVZnbrLiVK
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) February 15, 2019
There’s a ring of truth to Carter’s assertion that if someone were to bring in Kaepernick, it would be the Patriots. New England is obviously an intensely liberal region, they have tremendous political capital built up over the course of dominating the league over the last 20 years to offset any fan backlash, and, despite his friendship with President Trump, Patriots Owner Robert Kraft is no conservative and has spoken out in support of social justice causes.
Kraft could also reasonably expect that his friendship with Trump would shield him from the Twitter onslaught the president would predictably launch at any team that actually signed Kaepernick.
However, that’s where the credibility of Carter’s argument pretty much ends. Tom Brady has already said he’s coming back for at least one more season. Meaning, Kaepernick would be no younger than 32 by the time he’s “replace” the shoe-in Hall of Famer. Plus, there’s the matter of Kaepernick not having played competitive football since 2016. Ensuring that the former 49er would have no less than 3 full years of idleness before taking the helm in New England.
Not to mention the fact that Kaepernick wasn’t playing all that great at the time he walked away from San Francisco.
Knowing the future is hard, but it’s nearly impossible to believe the Patriots won’t have better options than a rusty, mediocre, social justice warrior nearing his mid-thirties, when Brady retires.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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