My Dive into the Bengals and Kaepernick Thing
So, I found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole the other day. The names Cincinnati Bengals and Colin Kaepernick popped up somewhere, maybe an old forum thread or just a random thought bubble, I don’t quite recall. But it got me thinking, you know? Was that ever actually a thing? Did the Bengals ever seriously look at Kaepernick, especially during those years he was trying to get back into the league?
Naturally, I had to poke around. It wasn’t like some big official project, more like satisfying my own curiosity. Here’s kinda what I did:
- First step, just basic searching. I typed in the usual stuff: “Bengals Kaepernick workout,” “Cincinnati Bengals interest Colin Kaepernick,” things like that.
- Then, I tried to remember the Bengals’ QB situation back then. They had Andy Dalton for a long time, right? Solid guy. Then they were pretty bad, which led them to getting Joe Burrow.
- I dug into old news articles, especially from around 2017 to maybe 2020. I was looking for any quotes from the Bengals’ coaches or front office, any reports of a tryout, anything solid.
- Also checked some fan forums from back in the day, just to see if the buzz was real among the fans or just wishful thinking.
What I Found (or Didn’t)
Well, after spending a bit of time on it, the answer seemed pretty clear: not much there. Honestly. It felt like mostly smoke and mirrors, if even that.
Here’s the breakdown of what I gathered:
- There were practically zero credible reports linking the Bengals to Kaepernick in any serious way. No workouts mentioned, no official team statements hinting at interest. Nothing like what happened with, say, the Raiders more recently.
- Most of the talk seemed purely speculative. You know how it is – fans or analysts saying “Maybe Team X should look at him,” and the Bengals were probably just one name on a long list for some people.
- Thinking about their QB timeline, it just didn’t seem to fit. When Kaepernick was first available, they had Dalton firmly entrenched. Later, when Dalton was on his way out, they were in full tank mode aiming for a top draft pick, which landed them Burrow. Bringing in a high-profile figure like Kaepernick didn’t really align with either of those phases.
- The Bengals, especially back then, seemed more conservative in their approach. They usually built through the draft or signed less controversial free agents.
So, yeah. My little investigation basically confirmed it was never really a serious consideration from the team’s side, best I can tell. It was interesting to trace it back, though. Sometimes you just gotta follow those random thoughts to see where they lead, even if it’s just to a dead end. Clears the mind, you know?
