With Derek Carr to miss time with injury, it’s time to ask the obligatory question: Should the Raiders sign Colin Kaepernick?

Since the moment Colin Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers (who were going to release him anyway if he hadn’t), he has represented an elephant in the room whenever a team needs a quarterback. And every time a quarterback goes down with injury that elephant gets bigger.

Suffice to say, that elephant has reached something the size of a small planet that orbits the NFL landscape on a constant basis. With Derek Carr lost for up to six weeks with a fracture in his back, that planet is now blocking the sun in Oakland.

The Turlock California native is a proven commodity who has thrown 72 career passing touchdowns to 30 interceptions along with 2300 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in his career. He also has a 4-2 playoff record, once leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl and Conference Championship in consecutive seasons (2012-13).

It’s obvious at this point NFL owners have been staying away from him because of the fear of the media circus and/or fan backlash due to Kaepernick having originated kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and racial profiling.

This season, even without Kaepernick on a team, there have still been a few players kneeling during the anthem as well as Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch who sits.

Two weekends ago that number jumped into the hundreds when Donald Trump called NFL players ‘sons of bitches’ who should be fired for kneeling for the Anthem. The statement caused demonstrations across the entire league, including the Raiders which had nearly the entire team seated with locked arms. They did this with the blessing of their owner, Mark Davis.

This past Sunday there was still many players kneeling, some before the anthem, some during it, including a great many on his former team in San Francisco.

All this is to say, Kaepernick’s presence on a team wouldn’t be quite as controversial as it once was — not that the Raiders have ever really cared about such things. It inevitably leads back to the question of his on-field talents and whether he would be a good addition to a team, like the Raiders, who have playoff aspirations and are now facing as many as 6 weeks with EJ Manuel and Connor Cook as the team’s starter and backup respectively.

So, I pose the question to you...