'Why Not Kap?': Some Cowboys Fans Wondering Why Colin Kaepernick Wasn't Signed Instead Of Garrett Gilbert

(CBSDFW.com)- After the Cowboys lost starting quarterback Dak Prescott for the year due to an ankle injury on Sunday, the team needed to bring in another quarterback behind Andy Dalton. While many football fans would like to see Colin Kaepernick finally get his shot in the league again, the team announced Tuesday that the man they would be bringing in to fill that role is former Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who was signed off the Cleveland Browns practice squad.

The move to bring in Gilbert will see rookie Ben DiNucci move up to the backup spot behind Dalton with Gilbert slotting in at third on the depth chart according to the team.

When the team took to Twitter to make the announcement, there were some fans wondering why the organization didn't sign Kaepernick instead.

The 32-year-old Kaepernick remains an NFL free agent. Prior to the season, commissioner Roger Goodell said he would "encourage" a team to sign Kaepernick. The next day, league executive Troy Vincent went on Adam Schefter's podcast and echoed the commissioner's sentiments saying that "this young man is talented enough to play in the National Football League. I believed that back in 2016 -- whenever it was, 2016 or 2017 -- and I still believe that today."

But, Vincent did say that it would be a club decision for any of the league's franchises to make the move to sign the veteran QB.

Nothing has really materialized since though it's not for lack of interest on Kaepernick's part. Josina Anderson reported in late June that she was hearing from league sources that Kaepernick indeed wanted to play this season.

But, the league's offseason came and went and Kaepernick went unsigned. In Dallas, there would seem to be at least one large hurdle to signing him: team owner Jerry Jones. Last November, when Kaepernick and the league had a falling out over a potential workout for him to showcase his abilities for teams, Jones went on KRLD-FM and said that he felt that the situation had more than football involved in it. Via CBSSports:

"I think so," Jones said. "... That situation from the get-go probably had a lot more that wasn't about football involved in it, and consequently we got the results of that dynamic."

"We aren't in the QB business," Jones made clear, before doubling down on his feelings about the workout being more about politics than actual need from respective teams. "I think it's unfortunate that you can't just zero in on the business at hand, and that is evaluating a player that might or might not help you win a football game or move the chains within a football game."

Those comments came after Jones' previous comments in 2017 in which he said he was "not interested" in having Kaepernick as a quarterback of the Cowboys.

There is also the fact that Jones, when Kaepernick's original protest started back in 2016 and continued into 2017 made it clear that players must "toe the line" during the performance of the national anthem. It was one of the bases for the subpoena that Kaepernick's team served Jones with when the quarterback was in the midst of a collusion lawsuit against the league.

Kaepernick is unquestionably a more talented option than the journeyman Gilbert. But, the history of Jones' comments towards the quarterback made signing him unlikely from the moment Prescott went down injured on Sunday.