Kaepernick s 2016 base salary of $11.9 million becomes guaranteed if he s on the roster April 1.
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NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports Colin Kaepernick is “more than open” to returning to the 49ers.
Gabbert was 22 for 34 for 264 yards and a touchdown while getting sacked twice in San Francisco’s 29-13 loss at Seattle in late November, when Kaepernick was beginning his round of surgeries. The 49ers would presumably want Davis to participate in their offseason program, which begins April 4.
In 2016, Kaepernick will be playing for his third head coach since he joined the 49ers in 2011, as former Eagles coach Chip Kelly was hired to replace the fired Jim Tomsula. I’ve known Coach since he was at OR and I see no difference in him from when we were going in and recruiting his players.
Paying Kaepernick that money is only part of the problem. He started as Alex Smith’s backup and then took over the team in the middle of a playoff run when Smith went down with injury.
Kelly was 26-19 in three seasons in Philadelphia, but was sacked with a game left in the 2015 season, pretty much because owner Jeffrey Lurie was sick of what Lurie saw as a divisive, dysfunctional atmosphere Kelly fostered around the team offices, it would seem.
That’s a whole lot of baggage to bring into this spring, a repository of complication that new coach Chip Kelly may or may not want to decipher and attempt to resolve. Kaepernick hit a major high point in 2012 when he kept the starting job and led team past the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs before losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.
However, Kelly has remained oddly mum on Kaepernick, citing National Football League rules that prohibit speaking about players during the offseason.
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Kaepernick s relationship with the 49ers significantly soured over the past year, and once he got benched at midseason, his future fell into further doubt. It gives the 49ers little leverage in a trade, and allows other teams to force San Francisco to make a move. Yet, at his best, Kaepernick has flashed elite skill as a quarterback. Kelly is also known for liking accurate quarterbacks with excellent decision-making skills.
