Colin Kaepernick Is A Bad Idea For Los Angles Rams

One topic that is going to be consistently talked about this offseason is the Los Angeles Rams quarterback situation. Between Nick Foles, Case Keenum, and Sean Mannion, the Rams dont really have a viable starter on their roster.

It is because of this that names like San Fransisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, Washington Redskins’ Robert Griffin III, and Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning will be thrown around, especially Kaepernick and Griffin.

It is no secret that Colin Kaepernick wants to be traded, however, given that Chip Kelly is now the head coach, there is no guarantee that will happen. In all reality this could just be a Jay Cutler situation in which the media believes he will be cut, but in fact he’s not.

At first glance signing or trading for Kaepernick sounds all fine and dandy. After all, Kaepernick has been a dynamic dual-threat quarterback with a proven track record of playoff success playing the exact type of football that the Rams play.

However, there are also a plethora of reasons that the Jets should not try to acquire Kaepernick. One of the biggest issues being salary cap. Even if the Rams and Kaepernick had mutual interest, its doubtful that the team would have the resources necessary to add him.

Take a look at Kaepernick’s bloated contract, courtesy of spoctrac.com.

Given their current cap situation, the Rams actually do have space, however, adding Kaepernick takes away a lot of that space for a quarterback that isn’t guaranteed to start. The Rams have 19 pending free agents and using $15-million on an average quarterback doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Re-negotiating his contract could be a possibility, but even then, the Rams are giving $8-million a year to Nick Foles. Unless the Rams could trade Foles for Kaepernick along with some draft picks, it doesn’t make sense for the Rams to take on that contract.

Even if Kaepernick gets released into free agency, he’s still going to want a lot of money as he has been to a Super Bowl, and behind Sam Bradford, would arguably be the best quarterback on the market.

Say the Rams and Kaepernick were able to come to terms on a decent contract. Still, it’s a situation that the team should stay away from. In spite of his past success, Kaepernick has recently been  ineffective play. NFL defenses have figured him out.

While running quarterbacks like Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton and Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson learned how to throw from the pocket and read a defense, Griffin III and Kaepernick did not and it shows.

In his first season in which Kaepernick played in just three games, he had a QBR of 75.2. Since then his QBR’s have gone from 69.0, 65.9, 60.2, and last season reached a career low of 47.1. His passer rating shows the same decline since his first year in which he had a 98.3 passer rating and then last season his passer rating was all the way down to a 78.5.

Kaepernick only played in nine games in 2015 throwing for six touchdowns and five interceptions. It got to the point that the 49ers benched him in favor of Blaine Gabbert. Last season on Pro Football Focus, the 49ers quarterback ranked 37th with a grade of 48.6 and had a grade of 41.6 passing the ball.

As if the salary cap and stats weren’t enough reasons, they’d also need to adjust the scheme to suit his skills. Kaepernick has struggled from under center in a pro-style offense and has played in a spread-read option in the NFL.

Kaepernick to the Rams sounds good at first, and the team does have problems at quarterback, but considering the stats and steady decline in production, he is not the answer that the Rams are looking for. They are better off looking in the draft for their franchise quarterback.