Colin Kaepernick could be just who the Ravens need right now

It’s still not clear just how long the Ravens could be without Joe Flacco. Initial reports said it could be as long as six weeks, but that got walked back to a week of rest for his ailing back.

If this does become a long-term problem problem for the Ravens, a team desperate to move past its two-year playoff drought, they’ll need to find a viable starting quarterback to replace Flacco. You should know where I’m going with this.

Head coach John Harbaugh has talked publicly about Colin Kaepernick before.

“I absolutely think he’s going to get signed,” Harbaugh said at the NFL owners meetings in March. “He’ll probably be starting somewhere next year at some point in time during the season.”

If Flacco’s injury winds up being more severe than they’re estimating right now, he might get his chance. Unlike the other quarterbacks on Baltimore’s roster, Kaepernick can actually be a viable starter. Just stop yourself before you argue against that. It’s been established.

The only question at this point for a team signing Kaepernick is whether or not it’s too late in the process for him to have an impact. It’s not easy taking over an offense in August, having missed the offseason work prior to starting training camp.

Not having that time to learn the offense would certainly put him at a disadvantage, but he does have another thing going for him in Baltimore — he knows the coaching staff.

John Harbaugh is Jim’s brother, so there’s that. But the more important connection here is offensive assistant Greg Roman, who happened to be the offensive coordinator in San Francisco during Kaepernick’s first four seasons in the league, including their trip to Super Bowl XLVII when they lost to the Ravens.

And even though it’s still too early to know with any certainty how long Flacco will be on the shelf, a lot of Ravens fans are already coming around to the idea.