The Broncos do not have the salary cap space to acquire Kaepernick at his current $11.9 million base salary.
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The Broncos lost two quarterbacks this off-season; starter Peyton Manning retired following the team’s Super Bowl win, and backup Brock Osweiler left in free agency for the Texans.
San Francisco and Denver have the parameters of an agreement in principle on a trade for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, sources said.
The University of Nevada product quarterback Colin Kaepernick and John Elway have met at least twice since March 15, per San Francisco Chronicle. Attendance is voluntary, but Kaepernick, who may not yet be physically recovered from offseason shoulder, knee and thumb surgeries, has a $400,000 bonus that stipulates he must participate in 90% of the offseason conditioning program and all of the team’s mandatory minicamp activities and training camp. At the moment, the Broncos have just $1.62 million in cap room, per NFLPA records.
The two teams have reportedly agreed on compensation, which is the Broncos mid-level pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
But the Seahawks will need about $4 million to pay their draft picks, according to OvertheCap.com (a number that could obviously change depending on if the Seahawks make trades, etc., but something that still has to be accounted for). The 49ers open offseason workouts this Monday, and Kaepernick’s workout bonus is expected to lead him to show up. It is yet to be seen how he would fit in Denver’s offensive scheme, but the Broncos receiving corps, bolstered by Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas, would likely be better served with Kaepernick, rather than Sanchez, under center.
Along with other Cal wide receivers, Kelly got a second look at the potential candidate the 49ers could elect to spend their No. 7 overall pick on.
According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, the Broncos asked the quarterback to agree to a new deal that would pay Kaepernick a $7 million base salary in 2016. To remove him from the roster before then, the team needed to release him (or trade him) by 1 p.m. PDT on Thursday. Imagine it – as a player, who worked his entire life to earn that $11.9 million, would you give up nearly $5 million dollars just to play for the defending Super Bowl champions?
But as of now, the 49ers are not willing to do so and Kaepernick is not willing to take a paycut to close the gap.
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The Broncos’ offseason program doesn’t begin until August 18.
