NFC West Notes: Kaepernick, Rams, LA

Here’s a look at the NFC West:

• Each game Colin Kaepernick plays this year will be a referendum on what the 49ers should do with him after this season, Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com write. Kaepernick, who has looked shaky this year, is due $11.9MM in base salary and another $2MM in roster bonuses next season. If he’s traded or cut before April 1, the 49ers would save $14MM in cash and $9.4MM in cap space. The duo notes that the Lions are in a similar spot with Matthew Stafford, who could also be dealt. Stafford, like Kaepernick, has no guaranteed money on his contract beyond this season.
• An NFL source told Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (via Twitter links) that there are two critical elements to the term sheet the St. Louis stadium task force submitted to the league ten days ago. One key part of it is that St. Louis promised to pay for the potential cost overruns on the project. The other is that the task force has come up with a way to exempt the stadium from being subject to property taxes. That’s potentially great news for the city of St. Louis and bad news for owner Stan Kroenke, who seems very keen on moving the Rams to Los Angeles.
• The Rams raised the salary of practice squad offensive tackle Isaiah Battle – a supplemental draft pick – to nearly $26K per week, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). That gives Battle, a Clemson product, the highest pay of any practice squad player in the NFL. Most taxi squad players earn about $6,700/week. The Rams used a fifth-round supplemental pick on Battle, which means that they gave up their 2016 fifth-round pick to get him. Even though they cut him from the roster in September, they were able to add him to their p-squad. As it turns out, Battle was the only player taken in this year’s supplemental draft.