RENTON — Doug Baldwin is convinced commissioner Roger Goodell is wrong. Baldwin in convinced Colin Kaepernick is absolutely being blackballed from the NFL.
That alone doesn’t make Baldwin unique. He’s in a long line of players and people around the league and country believing that. It’s becoming more obvious this month, with quarterbacks falling in Miami, Baltimore and elsewhere already in training camps.
Meanwhile a certain, former Super Bowl-starting one, a veteran of five seasons as a NFL starter, remains so noticeably unemployed.
But Baldwin went beyond most critics of the situation on Saturday. The Seahawks’ No. 1 wide receiver, himself a recent social activist who has consulted Kaepernick, said team owners are in the middle of a concerted, systematic effort across the league to keep the controversial quarterback without a job and “send a message” to their players to “stay in between the lines” — or else.
Or else they, as team owners, can and will take away your livelihood.
“You know, my original position was I thought that the situation last year with him taking a knee (for national anthems) didn’t have anything to do with it. And after viewing what’s going on, I have to take that back,” Baldwin said following Saturday’s light, indoor practice on the sixth day of Seahawks training camp.
“I definitely think that the league, the owners, are trying to send a message of, ‘Stay in between the lines.’ ”
Baldwin then rubbed his chin. He shook his head. He sighed.
“It’s frustrating,” Baldwin said. “Because you want to have guys who are willing to speak out about things that they believe in, you know — whether you agree with it or not. But I think that is definitely playing a role, more so than I thought it was going to.
“Why has my position on that changed? If you take a step back and look at the overall picture, there are a lot of teams in this league that could use a quarterback of Colin Kaepernick’s ability. Why he doesn’t have a job is, at this point, it’s very telling to me.
“He’s a very capable player. And, again, there’s a lot of teams out there that need quarterbacks — whether they are a starting quarterback or a backup-caliber quarterback. And the fact that he hasn’t been brought into camp yet? It’s … it’s questionable.”
Baldwin then nodded his head to emphasize his point.
In June, Baldwin said of Kaepernick’s 2017: “No doubt he’ll have a job rather quickly.”
The Seahawks, of course, could have ended all of this in the spring. They were the first team known to bring Kaepernick in for a free-agent visit this offseason, since Kaepernick and the new regime running the 49ers mutually agreed to separate in January. But as progressive, outspoken and welcoming as Seattle and coach Pete Carroll are and like to be known around the NFL to be, the Seahawks did not sign Kaepernick as it appeared they might in late May.
Carroll explained in early June it was because Kaepernick is a starting-caliber quarterback and that the Seahawks already have an $87.6 million one, franchise face Russell Wilson.
Take what you will from that, as you probably already have. The result was it looked good to the Seahawks’ trailblazing image to have hosted him. Yet the bottom line is when push came to shove the team that champions Carroll’s philosophy of welcoming intense competition at every position didn’t want Kaepernick competing on it, either.
As Kaepernick remains out of work, this first week of Seahawks training camp wasn’t exactly an exquisite display of quarterbacking. That position remains the least competitive on the team.
Wilson has looked slimmer and has been firing the ball with renewed zip after an offseason of new and renewed training with his personal staff. But he’s been off at times. On Friday, Earl Thomas cut off Baldwin’s route across the end zone for an easy interception in a red-zone drill.
No. 2 quarterback Trevone Boykin and new third-stringer Austin Davis, the journeyman Seattle signed instead of Kaepernick, have been poor. And that characterization might be charitable. Both have sent throws all over the lot. Some late. Some not at all, with coaches questioning the quarterbacks about their decision-making after plays.
So Baldwin was asked if he was surprised the Seahawks went to the effort of being the first to bring in Kaepernick this offseason then did not sign him.
“Surprised?” Baldwin said. “I don’t know. I didn’t follow that situation that closely at that time.
“I knew we were going to bring him in — as we always do; that’s what our team does. We are very methodical and strategic about everybody that we bring in, making sure that we are up and aware of all the available assets that are out there. So I was surprised about that.”
No Clark, no Ifedi again
Defensive end Frank Clark and starting right tackle Germain Ifedi did not practice for the second consecutive day since Clark leveled Ifedi with a punch during a fight in a pass-rush drill. The team has yet to reveal any injuries for either player.
Extra points
The Seahawks’ closed practice was a walkthrough of plays instead of drills and scrimmaging. Those return on Sunday morning in another open practice in front of 2,500 or so fans. … The team will conduct a mock game in which the players will go through pregame warm-ups and timing, then substitutions and the radioing and signaling of plays, as if in a game. … The players’ one day off this week, as mandated in training camp by the league’s collective bargaining agreement, is on Tuesday. They’ll practice Wednesday through Saturday before traveling for the preseason opener Aug. 13 against the Los Angeles Chargers at the Los Angeles Galaxy’s home soccer stadium in Carson, California.
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