Walkthru: Bengals are not signing Colin Kaepernick

The Walkthru is a daily look at the Bengals, your questions and whatever else spills from the brains of beat writers Paul Dehner Jr. and Jim Owczarski. You can follow them on Twitter (@pauldehnerjr, @JimOwczarski), Instagram (@enqbengals) as well as Enquirer Sports on Facebook.

I’m only going to do this once and I’m honestly hesitant I should even do it once because I know you folks are smarter than that.

Colin Kaepernick is not joining the Bengals.

Pro Football Talk made a report of this last night. Now it's everywhere. We don’t like addressing random hogwash people throw against the wall here. We don’t write about something because a person says a thing. And Florio even said, there's no indication the team would make such a move.

But before this spirals any deeper into the rumor mill, we need to end it here.

As long as Dalton and McCarron are here and healthy, Colin Kaepernick is not joining the Bengals.

Let’s say Andy Dalton’s first two games multiplied and going into the bye the team is winless and he still hasn’t improved. You think they would bring a quarterback in off the street that has zero clue of the offense before they went to AJ McCarron? Try to teach him on the fly?

This isn’t even about Colin Kaepernick and the political movement, this is about defying common sense on the best way to win games.

The report talks about players saying Kaepernick should be the guy to join the team. Maybe a few agents reported players saying that. Heck, maybe a player did. I can tell you we have never heard anything of the sort.

I can tell you players say lots of things. That doesn't mean the front office is listening to all of them.

As for the leash being short on Dalton, I’m not going to speculate to the specifics of that right now. I can tell you there appears to be plenty of faith in Dalton inside the locker room and with Bill Lazor. But, again, if this continues for an extended period of time, we’ve already seen one unprecedented move by this club in this year of urgency, perhaps we see a second. That would have to be a very desperate situation.

ON TAP TODAY

The Bengals return after the weekend off to a much different environment for their first day with new offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. First open locker room since the move is this afternoon.

BEYOND THE STRIPES

Back on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Holy Grail Banks. Rookie defensive end Carl Lawson will be our guest. Come join.

TWITTER QUESTION OF THE DAY

Thanks for the question, James.

We pointed this out in our story Thursday night after the game. Change could be coming due to results, unease within the team and certainly the comments of A.J. Green. His words have power like few others, primarily because they so rarely come out in criticism.

Did Green play a role? Sure. He spoke as the voice of many.

But A.J. Green did not go LeBron James and get Ken Zampese fired. This was a potential move because of what happened on the field as much as what was said off it. Creating a great relationship with your players as a leader is a key part in playing the role of OC, Jay Gruden and Hue Jackson were savants at that aspect. That was never Zampese strong suit. That clearly hurt him and he didn’t have the locker room.

If he didn’t have the locker room but they scored 30 points both weeks, he would still be here. The results on the field matter. Players wouldn’t suddenly love Zampese, but hey, if his play calls were working you can’t doubt him. His system and calls were not. That was apparent for 18 games. As much as player dissatisfaction got him fired, nine points did.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Jim and I break down the move to let go of Zampese.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Doc on why Mike Brown had to let Ken Zampese go.

Who is new OC Bill Lazor?

I write about the recent history of mid-to-early season OC changes and how they fared. The Bengals could improve. Of course, it would be hard to be worse.

BX this week looks at a rough first week in the stands as well as on the field. For all the hype around the 50th season and opening week, fan sentiment spoke with empty seats.

BENGALS BEAT PODCAST

You can call it an emergency podcast, but we are here for you. Our second BBP of last week dropped in reaction to the OC news.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT

Packers (1-1): Lost to Atlanta, 34-23, on Sunday Night Football. Also, played without both starting tackles. Don’t know if they will be back against the Bengals. Plus, WR Jordy Nelson, WR Randall Cobb and DT Mike Daniels all went out with injuries.

AROUND THE DIVISION

Steelers (2-0): Dismantled Minnesota, but the Vikings were playing without QB Sam Bradford. Sorry Zim, Case Keenum isn’t walking into Heinz Field and winning no matter who is on his team.

Ravens (2-0): Another week, another five turnovers created by the Baltimore defense, this time in a 24-10 win against Cleveland. Terrell Suggs might be a robot. However, they lost Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda for the season. Their offensive line is a disaster area.

Browns (0-2): Will the Browns be Browns bad this year, or take a step to respectability? We will find out the next three weeks as they play the Jets, Bengals and Colts, all 0-2.

BENGALS INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

Carlos Dunlap went into his high school Hall of Fame on Friday at Fort Dorchester.

BENGALS INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY x2

Congratulations out to Brandon LaFell and his wife Kristen on the birth of Breez Josiah.

BENGALS TWEET OF THE DAY

Congrats, part two, goes out to Bengals asst coach Brayden Coombs and grandpa Kerry, who also had a son this weekend.

RANDOMNESS

Feeling the winners from the Emmy’s last night. A bunch of my favorites ended up on stage: Atlanta, Last Week Tonight, Sterling Brown from This Is Us, Big Little Lies, Master of None, O.J. Made in America, even Shark Tank.

Congrats to me for liking good stuff. #SarcasmFont

Tony Romo continues to be an incredible analyst. He’s a walking, talking spoiler alert.

Best Sports Pickle Honest Headline of the Week: ‘Philip Rivers to hold kicker tryout among his children’

AND FINALLY

PJ Monday. Bill Lazor, Bengals fans turn to you.