For now, the Seahawks have no plans to sign quarterback Colin Kaepernick, coach Pete Carroll said Friday.
But that doesn't mean it couldn't still happen down the road.
"The doors are always open to opportunities," Carroll said Friday after the team held an OTA (Organized Team Activity) open to the media. "We are just going to try to do the best we can for guys, whatever opportunities present themselves, and we'll see. As of right now, we know what we are doing."
And that, for now, means going forward with the three quarterbacks on the Seattle roster _ Russell Wilson, Trevone Boykin and Jake Heaps.
Seattle has explored adding a veteran to push Boykin, who is entering his second season, and had both Kaepernick and Austin Davis in for a visit last week.
"It was another opportunity to keep abreast of what is available to help our team," Carroll said. "(General manager) John (Schneider) continues to work at every turn to figure out what is available, what we could do and does it fit. Colin has been a fantastic football player and he's going to continue to be. At this time we didn't do anything with it but we know where he is and who he is and we had a chance to understand him much moreso. He's a starter in this league and I can't imagine _ we have a starter. But he's a starter in this league and I can't imagine somebody won't give him a chance to play."
That answer seemed to suggest that maybe Kaepernick would still prefer to wait for a better chance to start than he would have in Seattle _ which is zero unless Wilson gets hurt _ and that he also might prefer more money than the Seahawks want to give for a player the team would hope would never see the field.
Carroll deflected a question about Kaepernick's contract demands, though, saying "there's really no point" in him ever stating that publicly.
Carroll, though, intimated that Kaepernick's stance last season of first sitting and then kneeling during the anthem _ part of an increasing interest in social issues taken by Kaepernick over the last year _ has no impact in Seattle's decisions.
"He's a great kid," Carroll said. "He's a great kid. He communicates well. He's got a big world that he's living in. NFL quarterback. He's got other issues that he is concerned about. He is capable of being a championship guy. He's demonstrated that over years. He's been up and down in his career some but he's shown enough up that you know that he can do that and I thought he presented himself really well."
Asked why if he thinks Kaepernick is still a starter in the NFL why he remains unsigned, Carroll said "not my issue. I don't know. We brought him in here to check him out and we know what we are doing right now and I think it was very productive to get to know him better."'
Wilson said "I wouldn't have any issue at all" if the team signed Kaepernick, saying whatever would make the team better.
