Colin Kaepernick is looking for a job, and Eric Mangini should be on his list of references.
Mangini was on the 49ers’ coaching staff from 2013-2015, and he says that if any team called him about Kaepernick he would have positive things to say.
“I haven’t personally talked to anybody about it, but what I will say about Colin is I had a really good experience with Colin,” Mangini told Pro Football Talk. “I wasn’t there over the last season where the protest and the different off the field issues became more of a focal point. But as a player, his numbers last season weren’t that far off from the year he brought the team to the NFC Championship Game. And he should get an opportunity.”
Mangini is mostly right about the numbers. In 2013, Kaepernick threw 21 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in 16 starts. Last season, he threw 16 TDs and four picks in 11 starts. He completed 58.4 percent of his passes in 2013, 59.2 percent last season. He averaged 7.7 yards per attempt in 2013 but only 6.8 last season, tied for 26th among quarterbacks who threw at least 100 passes.
Most importantly, Kaepernick was 12-4 as a starter in 2013 and 1-10 last season. He was surrounded by more talent in 2013. Perhaps that talent hid his deficiencies.
Mangini said that Kaepernick would be a good fit for the Browns, and that he’d take Kaepernick over Robert Griffin III, who started in Week 1 for the Browns last year.
The Browns no longer seem interested in retreads, however. They took Brock Osweiler only so they could get another second-round draft pick, and if Kaepernick does need to be part of a playoff-caliber roster to succeed, Cleveland wouldn’t be the right place for him.
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