If Ryan Tannehill is lost, Dolphins will have a Colin Kaepernick conundrum
August 4, 2017 by admin
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If you thought the Baltimore Ravens’ public debate over signing Colin Kaepernick was awkward, just imagine what the Miami Dolphins will go through if Ryan Tannehill misses an extended period of time.
Tannehill had a scare Thursday after he fell in practice, and the team now fears he will need season-ending surgery, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington.
Kaepernick could be a good fit for the Dolphins, whose coaching staff has already shown the flexibility required to build around a quarterback with a non-conventional skill set. However, the support Kaepernick has shown for former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro could be a deal breaker in Miami, where a large population of Cuban exiles remains fervently anti-Castro.
That is where we begin in sizing up the Dolphins’ QB options if Tannehill’s knee is a lingering issue, and he is lost for any great period of time.
The Kaepernick conundrum
The Kaepernick decision is obviously about more than football. In addition to kneeling for the national anthem in protest of racial inequities, Kaepernick showed up to a 49ers news conference last summer wearing a T-shirt depicting Castro and Malcolm X, with a caption reading, “Like minds think alike.”
Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero called Kaepernick an “unrepentant hypocrite” in a column detailing his own escape from Castro’s Cuba. Many others in Miami could feel similarly, which could lead the Dolphins away from Kaepernick if Tannehill is lost.
When then-Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen expressed admiration for Castro in 2012, protest groups organized and the team suspended Guillen for five games. Guillen apologized and called his comments the biggest mistake of his life.
The Dolphins know this history and know signing Kaepernick could upset fans on multiple fronts.
The Osweiler option
Brock Osweiler was so ineffective in Houston last season that the Texans traded a second-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for the Browns taking on his $16 million salary. The Browns immediately tried to unload Osweiler, only to discover teams weren’t interested in him even if Cleveland agreed to eat some of the salary.
Osweiler was a more promising prospect previously in Denver, where current Dolphins coach Adam Gase was once his offensive coordinator.
The Browns and Dolphins would have to figure out how to handle the $16 million salary that followed Osweiler from Houston to Cleveland. Perhaps the Browns would agree to pay a portion of the money in exchange for a draft choice or whatever else the sides could agree upon as compensation.
Osweiler, though toxic around the league at large, would come to the Dolphins already familiar with Gase’s system. The credibility Gase has earned among Dolphins players could help him revive Osweiler at least to some degree. Imagine Gase’s standing in Miami if he could win with Osweiler.
What else is there?
The Dolphins proved last season they could win in the short term with Matt Moore in the lineup. Moore might make the most sense for them in the short term this season if a serious injury befell Tannehill. But with 2016 seventh-rounder Brandon Doughty and college free agent David Fales as the only other alternatives, the Dolphins would presumably want another option in that circumstance.
Robert Griffin III is unsigned, but no one in the league seems excited about him. New England has resisted trading Jimmy Garoppolo and may or may not care about sending him to a division rival (the Patriots once traded Drew Bledsoe to Buffalo, so anything is possible). Former Buffalo starter EJ Manuel is having a good camp with the Oakland Raiders as he tries to revive his career. Could he be available? What about Cincinnati’s AJ McCarron?
There is at least one other potential veteran option: Jay Cutler, who left a tepid market in free agency for the Fox broadcast booth. Gase coached Cutler in Chicago, so there is at least familiarity.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It remains to be see just how desperate the Dolphins might be.
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Racism Is So Bad In This State, The NAACP Is Telling Black People To Avoid It
August 4, 2017 by admin
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Americans are regularly advised by the State Department to avoid going to countries — like Venezuela, Haiti, or the Philippines — that are considered too violent or politically unstable to visit. But according to the NAACP, people of color don’t need to cross an international border for their lives to be in danger. Racism is so bad in Missouri that the civil rights organization has issued a travel advisory warning people of color that they could be endangering their lives if they visit the state.
The advisory is the first statewide warning to be issued by the national NAACP in its 108-year history, and it’s an adoption of a warning issued in June by the Missouri NAACP State Conference. “Individuals traveling in the state are advised to travel with extreme CAUTION. Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri,” read the state chapter’s warning.
“The advisory means each individual should pay special attention while in the state of Missouri and certainly if contemplating spending time in Missouri,” it continues. “Unlike seasonal weather advisories, where no unnecessary travel on city streets or parking might be directed, the NAACP wants to make Missourians and our visitors aware of looming danger.”
The organization points out that the state was the center of the notorious Dred Scott case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1857 that people of African descent were not citizens and had no right to sue in federal court. That might explain why the NAACP particularly calls out Missouri Senate Bill 43, which was signed into law in late-June by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. This recent legislation, which goes into effect on August 28, makes it more difficult to hold employers liable for discrimination.
In addition, the advisory calls out data from a recent report from the state’s attorney general that shows black drivers are stopped significantly more often than whites.
“The numerous racist incidents, and the statistics cited by the Missouri Attorney General in the advisory, namely the fact that African Americans in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement officers than Caucasians, are unconscionable, and are simply unacceptable in a progressive society,” said Derrick Johnson, the interim president and CEO of the NAACP in a statement.
And sometimes those interactions with law enforcement have fatal consequences. The NAACP state chapter’s warning references the May death of 28-year-old Tory Sanders, a black man from Tennessee who ran out of gas in Missouri, called police for help, and ended up mysteriously dying in a jail in Mississippi County, about 150 miles southeast of St. Louis.
“How do you come to Missouri, run out of gas and find yourself dead in a jail cell when you haven’t broken any laws?” Rod Chapel, the president of the Missouri NAACP told the Kansas City Star.
“You have violations of civil rights that are happening to people. They’re being pulled over because of their skin color, they’re being beaten up or killed,” Chapel added. “We are hearing complaints at a rate we haven’t heard before.”
The 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black teen in Ferguson, Missouri, by white police officer Darren Wilson ignited protests and drew international attention to racial inequality and biased policing in the state. The University of Missouri has also come under fire for racist incidents directed at black students on campus.
At the same time, it should be noted that incidents such as these happen to people of color coast to coast. Since the presidential election last fall, hate crimes are up 20%, as is the number of hate groups. The black Los Angeles Chargers players struggling with housing discrimination are in Orange County, California, not Missouri. And it is in Baltimore, Maryland — where over 60% of the population is black — that police officers have recently been caught by their body cameras allegedly planting drugs on people.
That makes the warning about Missouri all the more startling. The incidents happening in the state are ”unconscionable, and are simply unacceptable in a progressive society,” said Johnson. The NAACP said it will decide whether to extend the ban after S.B. 43 goes into effect.
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