0 comments Lowell Cohn Is Very Upset at Colin Kaepernick's Contractual Demands; Possibly in His Senility Thinks Jay Cutler Has Won a Super Bowl

Lowell Cohn has his very own blog that he probably doesn't call a blog called "Cohn Zohn" (Get it?) and the description of this blog that he probably doesn't call a blog says Cohn "never runs out of things to say." Just because you have an opinion and say things doesn't mean what you have to say has value. So Cohn seems personally offended that Colin Kaepernick wants a lot of money and a new contract and shakes his fist at the clouds out of anger at these new-fangled quarterbacks and their contractual demands prior to winning a Super Bowl.

Colin Kaepernick is not an attractive personality. Usually he doesn’t say jack. And that’s not attractive.

Fortunately, his job is not to be an attractive personality but to play quarterback in the NFL and do his best to help his team win games. So far, he's been pretty good at that.

When he says jack — and more — he’s even less attractive.

Well, this definitely should be taken into account when contract negotiations begin. An attractive personality is mainly what quarterbacks should be judged upon.

He wants Jay Cutler money. He wants Tony Romo money. He wants more than those guys get.

Well first off, these are negotiations so obviously Kaepernick is going to start off wanting a lot of money and then 49ers would counter with a lot less money and then both parties will eventually meet in the middle if there is a deal to be done. In fairness, Kaepernick is younger than Cutler and Romo and (whether it's due to him or not) he has made more NFC Championship Games than both of those quarterbacks combined. So in terms of team success and how it reflects on the job Kaepernick did as a quarterback, his market value is probably close to what Cutler and Romo received.

FYI, Cutler signed for $18.1 a year, $38 million guaranteed. Romo signed for $18 million a year, $40 million guaranteed.

Kaepernick is younger than these two quarterbacks too. Just imagine what quarterbacks like Andrew Luck and Cam Newton are going to be demanding as well. Don't forget Russell Wilson. He's a nice guy, but he's also a Super Bowl-winning quarterback playing on a third round pick's salary.

He actually said, according to the Globe, he’ll play out the final year of his contract, base salary just south of one mil, and negotiate after next season instead of settling for what he considers a contract unworthy of his eminence.

And that's his right to do if he chooses to. If Kaepernick doesn't accept a salary he perceives to be too low, he will negotiate later when the 49ers might be more generous...or just become a free agent. It's his right to do, so don't begrudge him this simply because that's not how Joe Montana would have done it.

He went on with Murph and Mac and, in a sensitive, reasonable voice, said he’s not looking to break the bank in his next contract. What a guy. He’d accept a reasonable contract, not a whopper, so the 49ers can have enough money to sign key players like Donte Whitner and keep the team together. Kaepernick wanted everyone to see him as the ultimate team player.

Sounds like he changed his mind. Is that why Lowell Cohn is so angry? That Kaepernick originally said he would take a team-friendly contract and now has decided against this (probably on advice of his agent who knows the NFL is a league where players are one hit away from a career-ending injury)? Does this make Cohn's delicate senses so angry he can't fathom why Kaepernick would want to maximize his value? Tough. Get over it.

Now this. It’s like he’s saying, “To hell with the team. I want mine.”

There are words to describe his position starting with “hypocrite” and ending with “phony.” You can fill in words in between.

Great, I will.

Hypocrite isn't what Colin Kaepernick is. He spent some time during Super Bowl week saying he would accept a reasonable contract and now has changed his mind. He is completely within his right to do this and this means his agent helped him come to his senses and it doesn't make him a phony.

Kaepernick has started 23 regular-season games. That’s not even two seasons’ worth of games. In his 23 starts he has done some things well. He also has created two iconic images in the minds of 49ers fans. Those images would be flopping at the end of the Super Bowl against the Ravens on useless, repetitive, unimaginative passes to Michael Crabtree.

Well, Kaepernick isn't the person who called the plays in that situation. I'm not sure if there was an open receiver for him to throw to and I'm also not sure if he threw a more imaginative pass to Michael Crabtree that it would have resulted in a touchdown.

And then flopping yet again in last season’s NFC championship game, throwing the same useless, repetitive, unimaginative pass to Crabtree.

I'm not a 49ers fan, but I remember Kaepernick taking the 49ers to back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances and coming one short touchdown pass away from winning the Super Bowl. Perhaps my memories are flawed.

For those passes, for freezing under pressure,

Of course, making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row and almost winning the Super Bowl involves having to deal with no pressure. Kaepernick freezes under pressure, so there's obviously no pressure in playing in the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game.

for not seeing the entire field, for all that and more, Kaepernick does not rate top money. Let the Bears and Cowboys make desperate, silly moves. Let them throw away money

Or pay market value for the quarterback on the roster, where the alternative is to take a chance on finding an equally talented quarterback in free agency, through a trade or in the draft.

Our wisdom tells us the Niners should pay for what a player actually did in real life, in the hurly-burly of action on the field with the stakes high and everything depending on his wits and his arm. The Niners should not pay for what a twice-failed quarterback might do,

I think if Lowell Cohn considers Colin Kaepernick to be "twice-failed" then he needs to reset his expectations for the quarterback position. If failing to win the Super Bowl is being a failure then Dan Marino would like a word with Cohn. It's simple trolling to call Kaepernick a failure of any type.

could possibly do some day in a vague future that may never happen.

Literally every contract in sports is signed based on what a player might do some day in a vague future that may never happen. That's the nature and risk of a contract.

And make no mistake, Kaepernick has failed twice.

And make no mistake, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning could all be described as multiple failures if Colin Kaepernick is considered a failure. Make no further mistake, Lowell Cohn is very wrong. Perhaps it's his age. I don't know why "The Press Democrat" continues giving Cohn employment based on some vague future that may never happen.

Jim Harbaugh dumped Alex Smith — there’s no polite way to put it — after Smith got injured, an unusual move, and made his guy, Kaepermick, the quarterback expressly to win a Super Bowl.

Every head coach puts his quarterback in the game for the express purpose of winning the Super Bowl. That's the intent.

Smith already proved he could lose in the NFC championship game. Harbaugh wanted someone to do better. He wanted someone to win the championship game and win the Super Bowl. Well, Kaepernick won and lost the championship game. He also lost the Super Bowl in horrible ways.

I like how Lowell Cohn is holding Colin Kaepernick personally responsible for losing the Super Bowl and the NFC Championship Game, but refuses to give him credit for making the NFC Championship Game two years in a row. This is something no other quarterback who has played in the NFC over the past two seasons can claim, but I guess that doesn't matter because Kaepernick is a phony and a failure. Let's see how Lowell Cohn reacts when Kaepernick takes his talents away from San Francisco and gets the chance to fail somewhere else.

The Niners gave the team to Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl. Not to lose the Super Bowl. They expected him to deliver. He did not. 

He's been in the NFL for three years now and a starter for a little over one-and-a-half years, let's give him a little more time to deliver. Under Cohn's idea that if a quarterback doesn't win the Super Bowl then he is a failure then Peyton Manning must be a HUGE failure and quite a few Hall of Fame quarterbacks could have been called failures at some point in their career. This is completely unreasonable and just overall cranky to expect Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl or else he is a failure. Did the San Francisco area cable company take re-runs of "Matlock" or "I Dream of Jeannie" off the air and that's why Lowell is so pissy?

They didn’t put him in to learn. They put him in to win.

Actually, he was put in to learn and win. Which by the way, Kaepernick has been pretty damn successful at both of those things.

I'm sure Lowell knows this, though maybe in his rage and unbridled anger he has forgotten it, but this article is supposed to be about Kaepernick's contractual demands. Quarterbacks are not judged solely on wins and losses and the fact one guy views Kaepernick as a failure because he hasn't won a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter doesn't mean other NFL organizations wouldn't mind "failing" in the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl. Therein lies Kaepernick's market value and therein lies why Kaepernick makes the contract demands he does.

Kaepernick is the quarterback of the NFL’s most talented roster. Neither Kaepernick nor Harbaugh has won the Super Bowl with those players. Other quarterbacks would have won. Other head coaches would have won. Not these guys.

This is pure conjecture. There's no evidence other quarterbacks would have won a Super Bowl nor proof another head coach would have won a Super Bowl with the 49ers roster. It seems to me like Lowell Cohn is overestimating the 49ers talent on the roster. He obviously doesn't remember how good the 49ers were before Jim Harbaugh came rolling into town.

If the 49ers give Kaepernick the money the Globe says he wants, that will sink the whole franchise. For a quarterback who’s still learning?

Actually yes, especially if the quarterback is still learning. If Kaepernick is still learning and he has led the 49ers to the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game during his first two seasons as a starter then he has the ability to win a Super Bowl and therefore be the non-failure that Lowell so desperately craves his quarterback being.

Here’s what the 49ers should do. They should remind Kaepernick and his agent that Kaepernick has a contract. A valid, binding contract. Written on paper. A document he signed in sound mind.

I'm sure Kaepernick knows this. He has stated after all that he is willing to play out the final year of his contract. See, this is where Lowell Cohn is making up a reality that doesn't exist. This isn't about Kaepernick wanting the 49ers to rip up his current contract and get a new contract immediately. Kaepernick is perfectly willing to play out his current contract, so the whole "Tell him his current contract means something and it's binding" attitude is not relevant. Kaepernick is aware of this and is perfectly willing to honor his contract. He's just telling the 49ers if they want to re-sign him where the negotiations will start.

I recognize it's easier and lazier for Cohn to paint Kaepernick as ungrateful and a potential holdout, but that's not the reality at this point. Kaepernick will play out his contract, but he just wants a much bigger contract next time. For some reason, this offends Cohn and causes him to call Kaepernick a failure.

See how he plays next season. See if he improves in the red zone. See if he sees the entire field. See if he wins the Super Bowl.

Stuff like that.

And if Kaepernick doesn't win a Super Bowl, then what? What if he improves but doesn't win the Super Bowl? Should the 49ers not sign Kaepernick after that or should they demand he lower his contract demands while putting the franchise tag on him? After all, no matter how much he improves he is a failure until he wins the Super Bowl.

If he wins the Super Bowl, sure, give him Cutler money.

Jay Cutler hasn't appeared in a Super Bowl, much less won a Super Bowl. Cutler doesn't have the team-based achievements, especially compared to Kaepernick, that Cohn so desperately craves in his quarterback. Why does Jay Cutler deserve Cutler money I have to wonder?

If not, well things will get real interesting. But, please, make his contract performance-based, not extortion based.

It's not extortion. It's the beginning of contract negotiations based on Kaepernick's perceived market value. The market dictates his value, not some Bay-area writer who has no concept of how a quarterback's market value is dictated other than to crankily complain Kaepernick should be judged on whether he won a Super Bowl or not.

And if the next contract is supposed to be performance-based then would part of that performance be based on team success, like making NFC Championship Games/Super Bowls? It's fine to make Kaepernick's contract performance-based, but this doesn't mean Kaepernick has to sign this contract. I think Lowell Cohn believes the NFL doesn't have this little thing called "free agency" where a player can play out his contract and then choose the next team he wants to play for and isn't stuck playing for one certain team.

Because there is a certain amount of extortion involved in his negotiations and Harbaugh’s negotiations. It’s like they own the franchise. It’s like they are holding it up, like without them the Niners will revert to being complete failures.

I always love it when a sportswriter gets indignant at how much money a player and his agent are asking for while calling it "extortion." I wonder if Lowell Cohn has ever asked for a raise from any of his employers in order for him to not take a job at a rival paper? If so, that's extortion, because Cohn is holding his value over his employer's head. I'm sure Cohn sees his own personal experiences as just doing what's right for him, while Kaepernick should look out for himself and the 49ers franchise.

I hope York asserts himself, lets Kaepernick and Harbaugh know he runs the team and these are the 49ers, for God’s sake, and they are bigger than two guys, no matter who those guys are.

Better find a new quarterback and coach then. Good luck with that.

Advice to Jed York: If Kaepernick persists in his unrealistic, impertinent, rude demands, give him jack.

That's great advice, except it totally ignores what Kaepernick is requesting in a contract could end up being his market value. If the 49ers fail to meet Kaepernick's demands after next season then they could franchise tag him or risk having to find another quarterback who can "fail" by making back-to-back NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl in his first two seasons as a starter.

I love how Lowell's advice is to give Kaepernick "jack" as if Kaepernick will then retire and regret the day he wanted $18 million (or is it $20 million?) per year. I don't think it would be hurting Kaepernick if he becomes a free agent and the 49ers decide they want to go in a different direction at the quarterback position.

Lowell Cohn, this was terrible. You have been bookmarked.