{"id":841231,"date":"2026-09-09T01:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/841231\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T01:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:52:12","slug":"in-2017-john-harbaugh-wanted-colin-kaepernick-in-baltimore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/841231\/","title":{"rendered":"in 2017, John Harbaugh wanted Colin Kaepernick in Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"

With former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the brink of releasing a new book, he\u2019s been talking a little more than usual as part of the promotion. That has prompted others to have a few things to say, too. <\/p>\n

One voice was somewhat unexpected. Giants coach John Harbaugh has spoken at length to Ian O\u2019Connor of The Athletic regarding the Ravens\u2019 interest in Kaepernick after he became a free agent in 2017.<\/p>\n

With Kaepernick\u2019s former 49ers coach, Jim Harbaugh, coaching at Michigan \u2014 and believing that a team could win \u201cchampionships<\/a>\u201d with Kaepernick, John Harbaugh was very intrigued.<\/p>\n

John Harbaugh also vividly remembered what happened in Super Bowl XLVII, when Baltimore barely held off a Kaepernick-led second-half comeback attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that Super Bowl, he was really a nightmare to defend<\/a>,\u201d John Harbaugh told O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

The biggest complication at the time related to Kaepernick\u2019s weekly protests in 2016, which sparked a broader wave of players taking a stand by not standing during the national anthem. And a significant public backlash from a sizable chunk of NFL fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all honesty, that wasn\u2019t a factor,\u201d John Harbaugh told O\u2019Connor. \u201cYeah, there was conversation that there\u2019s going to be a certain percentage of the fanbase that\u2019s not going to appreciate this, but we decided that wasn\u2019t going to be our driving factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Ravens, who still had Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joe Flacco under contract, the attraction to Kaepernick was undeniable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis talent, and also the fact I had inside information as to who he was from my brother,\u201d John Harbaugh told O\u2019Connor. \u201cWe talked a lot about him, and I\u2019d met Kap many times, had numerous conversations with him because of that. We talked about it at length as an organization, and we liked the fit. . . . The bottom line is your quarterback has to make plays for you, and Colin Kaepernick proved he could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The potential signing of Kaepernick became derailed for reasons that still remain fuzzy. His girlfriend, Nessa Diab, posted an image of franchise legend Ray Lewis and team owner Steve Bisciotti, after reports emerged that Bisciotti resisted the notion of embracing Kaepernick. After that, the visit never happened.<\/p>\n

Even if Kaepernick\u2019s visit to Baltimore had happened, there would have been complications. Flacco was the starter. Kaepernick would have been the backup, with a contract reflecting his status. At the time, Kaepernick believed he should still be a starter; would he have accepted a secondary role?<\/p>\n

If Kaepernick and the Ravens had joined forces, the ensuing butterfly effect could have resulted in the Ravens not trading back into the bottom of round one to acquire two-time MVP Lamar Jackson in April 2018. On that topic, Harbaugh said \u201cwe probably would\u2019ve still drafted Lamar for the opportunity to have two guys like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, no one knows what would have happened without knowing how Kaepernick would have performed. In 2017, the Ravens went 9-7 and missed the playoffs; Flacco was so-so. If Kaepernick had gotten a chance to play that year and if he had played well, who knows? He could have been the clear-cut No. 1 entering 2018, perhaps making them less inclined to draft Jackson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick on the brink of releasing a new book, he\u2019s been talking a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-841231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}