The Cincinnati Bengals could make a change at quarterback in the near future if Andy Dalton continues to struggle.

A.J. McCarron would logically take over the job, but there's a feeling among some players that the Bengals should consider signing Colin Kaepernick.

There has been no indication that the Bengals are ready to consider Kaepernick.

Colin Kaepernick hopes to play football this season as the NFL moves into the third week of the regular season.

"Yes. I've never stopped," Kaepernick told Shaun King of the Fair Punishment Project. "I'm ready right now. Working out daily."

Kaepernick's decision to kneel during the national anthem last season, in protest of police treatment of minorities, sparked a national debate. He had workouts with the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens this offseason.

Alex Smith spoke candidly about his future with the Kansas City Chiefs with the franchise using the 10th overall pick last year to select Patrick Mahomes. 

“For sure,” Smith said when asked if he felt like 2017 would be his last in Kansas City. “It absolutely does. Without a doubt.”

Smith's contract runs through the 2018 season.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Smith said. “It’s like, man, [we] could’ve added this or this or this position or this player.”

Smith was traded to the Chiefs in 2013 after he lost his job to Colin Kaepernick.

The agent for Andrew Luck denied a report from ESPN's Mike Greenberg that there have been rumblings of a gap between he and the Indianapolis Colts that could eventually end his time with the franchise.

"Quite simply and succinctly, there's no truth to that comment at all," Will Wilson, Luck's agent, told WTHR-TV's Bob Kravitz. "Andrew did a long-term deal and he did it for a reason: He wants to be with the Colts and he's committed to the Colts. It's as simple as that. He looks forward to the opportunity to play when he's ready. He wants to get out there when he's ready, obviously. He's just going through rehab; it's the process he's going through."

Luck signed a six-year, $140 million contract with the Colts in 2016.

In an appearance on The Dan Dakich Show on Wednesday afternoon, Greenberg clarified his earlier comments.

"We can speculate, and that's what I did on the air this morning, and I realize I said it more definitively than I should have, in retrospect," Greenberg said. "When I realize now how many people are taking what I said as though I was reporting 'Andrew Luck wants to be traded,' I felt that it's very important that I clear that up. That if that's the way that came out, that's not in any way the way I intended it.

"What I intended to say was that I'm hearing people talking about Luck being unhappy with the direction of the franchise and speculating that it could get so bad that it might take that next step. And the agent categorically denied it. Those are the facts."

The Arizona Cardinals have re-signed Chris Johnson.

With David Johnson out for three to four months, the Cardinals need more depth at running back.

Arizona cut Chris Johnson shortly before the start of the season. Johnson didn't impress during the preseason, carrying 13 times for 41 yards (3.2 yards per attempt) with a fumble.

The New Orleans Saints will be unable to use the franchise tag on Drew Brees this offseason due to a little-known clause in his deal.

Brees could still re-sign with New Orleans but they cannot prevent him from leaving by using the franchise tag.

"Right now [no discussions are taking place]. I don't expect them to. I don't really desire them to," Brees said in July. "I just want to play football and help this team win."

Brees and the Saints worked out a one-year, $24.25 million extension just a few days before the regular-season opener in 2016 to avoid having him enter a walk year.

Colin Kaepernick remains a free agent as the 2017 begins and several teams start quarterbacks that are inferior to him by any objective matter.

“No one wants to deal with that,” said an owner of one of the league’s 32 franchises.

“No one wants the nonsense or the [B.S.] . . . It’s not collusion, it’s common sense,” the NFL owner said, going on to credit Kaepernick on one front. “The thing that he’s done probably more effectively than any team community relations staff or owner or coach could do for other players is [point out] that they do have the ability to affect the national dialogue.”

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, who shared football opinions from several decision-makers on why Kaepernick remains unsigned, even admitted this week that he would have a contract if not for his social activism.

Nope. He'd have a job, if there wasn't a protest. I never denied that. It's just not a one-topic thing. His play is a major factor. https://t.co/IiTx3ZoV3s

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 6, 2017

“He had no idea how big it was going to get,” said Nate Boyer, an ex-Green Beret who has occasionally communicated with Kaepernick over the past year.

The Oakland Raiders and Sebastian Janikowski have resolved differences that could have led the club to look towards another kicker, according to a report.

Janikowski will take a $1 million pay cut.

The Raiders drafted him in the first round of the 2000 draft.

Ray Lewis claims the Baltimore Ravens were close to signing Colin Kaepernick until his girlfriend posted a "racist" tweet featuring Lewis and owner Steve Bisciotti.

"We were going to close the deal to sign him," Lewis said on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" on Tuesday night. "Steve Bisciotti said, 'I want to hear Colin Kaepernick speak to let me know that he wants to play football.'"

"And it never happens because that picture comes up the next day."

Nessa Diab compared a picture of Lewis hugging Bisciotti to a scene from "Django Unchained," in which Samuel L. Jackson as a loyal house slave held Leonardo DiCaprio's cruel plantation owner character.

"His girl [Diab] goes out and put out this racist gesture and doesn't know we are in the back office about to try to get this guy signed," Lewis said. "Steve Bisciotti has said it himself: 'How can you crucify Ray Lewis when Ray Lewis is the one calling for Colin Kaepernick?'"

Lewis was asked whether the Ravens would have signed Kaepernick if not for the tweet.

"Then he's flying him to Baltimore," Lewis said. "I am sitting with all three of them and we are all having a conversation about bringing Colin Kaepernick in."

The Oakland Raiders and Sebastian Janikowski are in a contractual standoff that could dictate whether the two sides spend this season together.

The Raiders asked Janikowski to rework his contract, which calls for him to make $4 million in the final season of his deal, but he declined, according to a source.

The issue is expected to be resolved by Janikowski accepting a reworked deal or with Oakland moving on to a new kicker.