Meriweather: Kaepernick Not A Fit For Patriots Because Of Style Of Play -- Not Protest
BOSTON (CBS) -- After trading away Jimmy Garoppolo on Monday, the New England Patriots are in the market for a backup quarterback.
As you may have heard, Colin Kaepernick is still looking for a job in the NFL, and his agent has said that he believes his client will be signed within the next few weeks. Could be land in New England to fill out the Patriots depth chart behind Tom Brady?
Former Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather joined Toucher & Rich for his weekly interview on Wednesday, and doesn't think the Patriots will sign Kaepernick. But it has nothing to do with his protests or the potential distraction he would bring, and more to do with the quarterback's different style of play.
"I don't think Kaepernick's strength is what the Patriots want. They need a pocket quarterback that can sit there, read the defense and throw the thing. He is a mobile quarterback that needs to be out of the pocket," said Meriweather. "You want a backup similar to Tom. You're not asking for Tom, because ain't no one going to be Tom. That's why all the quarterback Bill drafts are pocket quarterbacks.
"The Patriots are the one team that could sign Kaepernick and everyone would look over it."
Meriweather isn't sure if Kaepernick is being blackballed by NFL owners, and hopes that if a team wanted to sign the quarterback they would do so. He said a team signing Kaepernick would lessen the current tension between players and owners over pregame protests, but that strain in their relationship would really go away if owners stopped talking about it.
"The only way it's really going to die out is if the owners stop making comments about it. If they would have never said anything or respond to what Trump said, this would have died down a long time ago," said Meriweather.
Meriweather also touched on the controversial comments from Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, the league taking the fun out of the game, and celebrated Jon Wallach's 50th birthday with some strip club talk -- leading to a hilarious exchange with Fred. Listen to this week's Meriweather Wednesday in the podcast above!