Reports of the Baltimore Ravens being interested in quarterback-turned college analyst Aaron Murray and conflicting opinions on signing Colin Kaepernick surfaced on Aug. 2. ESPN’s Diana Russini reported that while the Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Ozzie Newsome supported the signing of Kaepernick, team owner Steve Bisciotti didn’t. The Baltimore Ravens sent out an official statement refuting that report.
Statement on today’s report regarding Colin Kaepernick: pic.twitter.com/ubfpwVA35O
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 2, 2017
On July 26, it was reported that Ravens starting quarterback Joe Flacco could be out for a couple of preseason games due to a back injury. Statistically speaking, Kaepernick is the best quarterback available in free agency while Murray is coming off getting cut by the L.A. Rams and agreeing to become a CBS analyst on Aug. 1.
Public team support from the Ravens on potentially signing Kaepernick hasn’t been overwhelming. Flacco said he’d love to see Kaepernick get another chance, just not with the Ravens. Linebacker Terrell Suggs said he’d love to have Kaepernick on the team. In May, Suggs showed support for Kaepernick in an interview with rolling out.
“You know all he did was protest. He exercised his freedom of speech. His right to protest. He’s kind of getting condemned for it, but I definitely think he should get another opportunity to play in the league. I think one should only be graded [by the league] on what they do … not by their personal beliefs,” Suggs said in the interview.
Some critics even said that signing Kaepernick would put Flacco’s starting job on a hot seat. Last season, Flacco threw for 20 touchdowns, 15 interceptions with a 58.4 quarterback rating in 16 starts. Kaepernick threw for 16 touchdowns, four interceptions with a 55.2 quarterback rating in 11 starts. For measure, Murray has not yet thrown a pass in a regular season NFL game.
The Ravens’ first preseason game is on Aug. 10 against Washington at 7:30 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium.
