In four games this season, Buffalo Bills quarterback Nathan Peterman has thrown seven interceptions.
That’s three more interceptions than Colin Kaepernick, who is suing NFL owners for colluding to keep him out of the league because of his social justice activism, threw in his entire 2016 season (12 appearances). That season was the last one he played in the league to date.
Peterman’s seven picks this season are also more than Kaepernick, 31, threw in 2015 (nine games) and 2012 (13 games), and one short of the eight interceptions he had while starting all 16 regular-season games for the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 and leading them to a 12-4 record and a Super Bowl berth.
To hammer home the putrid Peterman point a little further, the 24-year-old QB threw more interceptions in the first half of a game last season (five), than Kaepernick had in ’16 (four) or ’12 (three). It’s the same number that Kaepernick tossed in his nine games in ’15.
The point of all this isn’t to simply point out that Peterman is bad. Were that the case, it’d be easy enough to simply bring up that, out of the 44 quarterbacks who have thrown at least 10 passes this season, Peterman now ranks dead last in passer rating at 30.7 (followed by his fellow Bills quarterbacks Derek Anderson at 56 and Josh Allen at 61.8).
Nathan Peterman’s 12/19, 75 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs at halftime
That’s good enough to raise his career passer rating from 31.4 to 31.5 ?
— Adam Stites (@AdamStites_) November 4, 2018
The point is there is no logical — or statistical — reason why Peterman should have a job playing quarterback in the NFL and Kaepernick, social justice controversy and all, shouldn’t.
On his worst day, Kaepernick was never close to playing the quarterback position as pathetically as Peterman has. On his best day, Kaepernick was a game-breaker who could shred defenses with both his arms and his legs while winning football games.
The fact Kaepernick doesn’t have a job in the NFL — and clearly even isn’t even being considered for one despite training every day with workout sessions that begin at 5 a.m. — while Peterman does, is glaring enough the former 49ers’ attorneys may want to mention it as evidence of collusion.
And we aren’t the only ones that feel that way.
That an NFL team would rather embarrass itself with Nathan Peterman than sign Colin Kaepernick should be Exhibit A in the collision case.
— Julie DiCaro (@JulieDiCaro) November 4, 2018
If only a talented QB who was one underthrow away from appearing in back-to-back Super Bowls were available … https://t.co/QdW1pVCDQd
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) November 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1059205072696107008
Colin Kaepernick should just show Nathan Peterman highlights to the judge in his collusion case.
— Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) November 4, 2018
I honestly can’t believe Nathan Peterman still has a job and Colin Kaepernick doesn’t. It’s embarrassing.
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) November 4, 2018
To be fair to Peterman and the Bills, there is plenty of embarrassment to go around as there are lots of other organizations that have opted to go with an unproven scrub instead of risking invoking some controversy by taking a chance on Kaepernick.
To that end, here are all the players who have a qualified passer rating for this season that falls short of the 88.9 QBR mark that Kaepernick tallied over 69 games in the regular season: Peterman (30.7), Anderson (56.0), Allen (61.8), Sam Bradford (62.5), Tyrod Taylor (64.5), Sam Darnold (68.3), Blaine Gabbert (68.9), Josh Rosen (69.9), Jameis Winston (74.7), Marcus Mariota (78.5), Nick Foles (78.9), Cody Kessler (79.3), Blake Bortles (81.4), Baker Mayfield (81.5), C.J. Beathard (81.8), Case Keenum (83.9), Joe Flacco (84.2), and Dak Prescott (87.4).
Of course, some of the names on there are young players who have upside and are still developing (Allen, Darnold, Rosen, Mayfield, Beathard) but many of them are established NFL quarterbacks (Anderson, Bradford, Gabbert, Kessler, Keenum). Established for being pretty terrible, that is.
And that list doesn’t even include guys like Brock Osweiler and Ryan Fitzpatrick, both of whom have played decently at points this season but are no one’s idea of a franchise quarterback at this point in their careers.
While Kaepernick probably also isn’t a franchise cornerstone at this point in his career at this point given his age and how long he’s been on the sideline, he at least deserves the chance to find out if he still wants to based on what he’s been able to do over the course of his career.
That chance to play NFL football being denied to Kaepernick but being given to Peterman, Osweiler, and others is all the collusion evidence Kap’s lawyers should need in his ongoing legal battle.
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