The Ravens' top execs have "spoken to current and former players, including Ray Lewis, and both fans and sponsors as they continue to mull whether to sign" free agent QB Colin Kaepernick, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore SUN. Speaking alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at a fan forum before the Ravens’ open practice last night at M&T Bank Stadium, team officials "acknowledged the team has had direct discussions with Kaepernick, but they still haven’t made a decision whether they will sign him or not." Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti "urged fans to keep reaching out to the team to express their opinions." Asked how Kaepernick could damage the team's brand, Bisciotti said, "I hope we do what is best for the team and balance that with what is best for our fans. Your opinions matter to us. ... We’re very sensitive to it, and we’re monitoring it." Zrebiec notes the Ravens have been "inundated with phone calls" at their HQ. Speaking to reporters after the fan forum, Goodell said that Kaepernick is "not being blackballed." Goodell: "The clubs are making those individual evaluations. Obviously, everyone’s aware of the fact of his protests last year and that’s something that individual clubs either weigh or not weigh" (Baltimore SUN, 7/31). Bisciotti said, "I know that we're going to upset some people, and I know that we're going to make people happy that we stood up for somebody that has the right to do what he did. Non-violent protesting is something that we have all embraced." Bisciotti added that he was "not swayed that the move would improve the team in the short term." Bisciotti: "We do want to win games and I'm not sure right now that he is going to help us do that" (USA TODAY, 7/31). Ravens LB Terrell Suggs said that he would be "accepting of Kaepernick if he was signed by the team." Suggs: "Hell yeah, if he's going to help us win. We have no issues. Not in the locker room. Hell yeah, we want him" (ESPN.com, 7/30).
ASSESSING THE SITUATION: ESPN's Louis Riddick said of the situation, "This is a very, very, very sensitive issue. ... People are scared about this. They don't really know what to do about it because these guys are running businesses, they’re getting pushback from certain parts of their fan base and they’re going, ‘In the end, this is a business.'" ESPN's Clinton Yates added of Bisciotti, "He is clearly in a situation where he is very, very nervous about what the impact of this is." ESPN's Booger McFarland applauded Bisciotti and said, "In a day and age where no one wants to even mention the man's name, you have Mr. Bisciotti having an open, although uncomfortable, forum about Colin Kaepernick" (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 7/31). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted Bisciotti gave an "honest, frank, and candid assessment" of the Kaepernick situation. It "directly conflicts with Goodell’s past insistence that teams consider only football impact when deciding whether to sign football players." However the Ravens resolve the situation, it is "now abundantly clear that Kaepernick is unemployed in part for reasons unrelated to football" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 7/30). THE MMQB's Peter King writes the fact that the Ravens "admitted they were talking to team sponsors and fans means, most likely, that they’ve decided internally that Kaepernick is worth the risk." It is "wrong-headed to not bring Kaepernick in at least for a trial, because it’s not going to cost much, and the benefits might be plentiful." King: "That is, if you can take the heat in some quarters of signing him" (MMQB.com, 7/31).
SENSITIVITY CHECK: PFT's Florio noted Bisciotti is "very fair-minded and based on his comments." Florio added, "Think about the period of February through September of 2014 when they knew everything they had to know of what happened between (Former NFLer) Ray Rice and his then-fiance in an elevator in Atlantic City, they knew he knocked her out. They had seen the video of her unconscious body on the floor of the elevator, they knew what occurred. Did they seek fan input, consider fan input, even acknowledge that there was an issue that they were wrestling with beyond football as it related to Ray Rice? No, they circled the wagons and they defended him" ("PFT," NBCSN, 7/31).
