Pete Carroll said Tuesday that the Seattle Seahawks are considering, among others, Colin Kaepernick as a free-agent signing. At least one of the most influential voices in the locker room is perfectly fine with that.
Defensive end Michael Bennett said in a radio appearance that not only would he support a Kaepernick signing, but that he thinks Seattle is the perfect place for his former division rival.
"I think a person that's dedicating their life to creating change, why wouldn't you want that type of leadership in your locker room?" Bennett said, per ESPN.com. "Why wouldn't you want a young person that's dealt with people wanting to kill him because of his choices in life? So I don't know why people feel like that is a problem.
"I think that Kaepernick getting the opportunity to be on our team would be really cool, would really be a good place for him because you have a coach like coach [Pete] Carroll who is up for challenges like that. You have an owner who spends and gives back to the homeless. You've got players on your team that give back in the community. You've got Russell Wilson who shows that our team is built around community. So this is a perfect place for him."
Bennett was among several Seahawks players that supported Kaepernick's stance against police violence last season. He also expressed surprise earlier this offseason that Kaepernick was still unsigned while other, inferior quarterbacks received new contracts.
"Yeah, it does surprise me. Kap is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL," Bennett said. "He's also one of the most genuine people you could possibly meet. All the stuff that he's doing off the field, the things that he's doing in the communities, he's just serving everybody. Teams should be happy to have a leader like that, a guy who's dedicated to the people around him and he's dedicated to making their life better. The only thing he could do is make the offense even better."
As I wrote at the time, you can quibble with Bennett's assertion that Kaepernick is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but it surely seems like he's good enough to be somebody's backup. He has taken a team to the Super Bowl and has shown a high level of skill in the past. If Josh McCown and Geno Smith and Nick Foles and Matt Barkley and EJ Manuel still have a place in the league, then surely there is a place for Kap, too. That place might just be Seattle.