Contrary to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter last week, the 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick is not a lock to opt out of his contract by the March 2 deadline, a source close to the quarterback told Kevin Lynch of the San Francisco Chronicle.
[RELATED: 49ers Won’t Hire Offensive Coordinator]
Kaepernick is currently undecided on which path he’ll take and wants to talk to the franchise’s new brass – general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan – before determining his future. As of now, Kaepernick “feels his relationship with the team has never been better and doesn’t want the team to think he wants to leave,” writes Lynch.
Even if Kaepernick wants to stay in San Francisco, that doesn’t mean the club will have interest in retaining him, of course. Cutting Kaepernick would save the 49ers $16.9MM in cap space next season and give them nearly $100MM in breathing room. Plus, Shanahan is reportedly likely to want someone else under center, and veterans Kirk Cousins (Redskins), Jimmy Garoppolo (Patriots), Matt Schaub (Falcons) and Jay Cutler (Bears) have come up in recent weeks as candidates to become the 49ers’ next starting signal-caller. San Francisco is also in possession of the second pick in this year’s draft, so it could conceivably reel in its starting passer for 2017 via that route.
Kaepernick, meanwhile, drew more attention for his political activism than his play last season, though the 29-year-old did post respectable numbers as part of a two-win team. After a truncated, injury-laden 2015 in which he threw six touchdowns against five interceptions and averaged 6.2 yards per attempt, Kaepernick bounced back with 16 scores, four picks and a 7.2 YPA in 2016. His completion rate was again below average (59.2 percent – right in line with a career 59.8), but he did reestablish himself as a major threat on the ground with a robust 6.8 yards per carry and two more TDs on 69 rushes. Only the Bills’ Tyrod Taylor had more rushing yards among QBs than Kaepernick’s 468. It’s now possible each of those two will end up available in the coming weeks, as the Bills could cut Taylor.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Doesn’t matter if he’s undecided. He’s gone.
I wish him the best, but the Niners aren’t the place for him anymore.
Well, well Alice:
D U L Y N O T E D
Kap must go. His reads are too show and detectable with questionable accuracy depending on how the wind blows that day. We have too many options and cutting him gives more cap space. If we can see Joe Montana off to Kansas City, a truly great QB, we can help Kap pack his bags. He also needs to take his politics elsewhere.
what options half ass old rejects getting passed around. Hey lets do the same thing that got us here. Get the rest of our team in order QB is the last of worries how about receivers that could catch a ball if its not perfect or defence that doesnt give up average of 30+ points.
So, the real reason is his politics? Interesting concept, but no criticisms of tom brady and his politics. Anything else you want to add to this bs excuse for why you want Kap out of Santa Clara?
Tom Brady’s politics? Being friends with Donald Trump before he was ever a politician and having one of his hats in his locker is far different then kneeling for the national anthem. That’s weak dude.
Agree with your point on Brady, but if we had a QB throwing 40 TDs a year with 4k yards, I doubt you’d care too much about his politics then (no matter what they were). Your original point was legit, until you dropped your sour note about his “politics.” I don’t agree with Kap kneeling for the anthem, but I absolutely respect his right to protest, his actions with regard to the kneeling don’t hurt the team or the game.
Differrnce is Brady doesn’t hate the country that gave him the opportunity to cash in.
Kap just hates minority’s being shot at a much higher rate than whites.
Maybe you both ought to check as see who is mostly shooting at them.
Nooooo!!!!! We don’t need a mediocre QB who thinks the weight room instead of the film room is the way to become a great NFL QB. Plus nobody needs a 30-year old QB (mid-season next year) who can’t read a defense.
Oh yeah, a mediocre QB that had a 90.6 QBR passing rate(16 TDs/4INTs) throwing to mediocre WRs not to mention a mediocre OL, HELLO?
What in the world I said that is subject to such an inquisition moderation? Oh, well; is that the way the cookie crumbles?
Right terrible o-line and no weapons at all on offense, what is the other option for next year Matt Shaub
Agree I hope Kap stay in San Fransico. They need him and he needs them. He is the kind if quarterback Kyles likes.
Shanahan is looking for a pure thrower with a high football IQ. Someone who can thrive in his scheme. He’s quoted saying as much before he was hired. Kap in NOT the kind if QB Shanahan is looking for. If kap stays, it’s to bridge the gap till we draft a guy coach wants.
Yeah pretty hard to find a QB like that. Definitely none available this offseason
I’d prefer a coach who actually has experience and knows what he’s doing, but that’s not available anyways. Instead we have a guy who has Julio Jones to thank for his recent success
lol. Yeah. Stats. Way to not understand them. His stats are a product of YAC (his QBR) and being timorous (not challenging defenses by only taking the short throws).
A mediocre QB who holds the ball so long he makes the line look bad with over 40% his sacks since 2014 coming after 3.5 seconds. And has been, every year, one of the three slowest QBs to pass from the pocket taking 2.96 seconds, on average, to make a throw.
A QB so mediocre that he was 44th in downfield passing depth of throw. A QB so mediocre that despite a perfectly okay 4.9% drop rate and one of biggest dink-and-dunk passing profiles only managed 59% completion. Alex Smith, whom he profiles as, had a 67% completion rate. Smith also had a 4.9% drop rate.
A QB so inaccurate he had, by a huge margin, the worst down-field completion rate of any QB in the NFL. And even in the short-stuff he was 10% what you want out of an average starter.
Like I said, his QB rating was because the throws the ball short. Like 3.3 yards an attempt short. And his WRs and TEs get YAC. Which is why over 50% of his yards were YAC and he had so few INTs.
Mic drop….
short passes is what the westcoast offense is all about. a great qb will take what the defense gives him.
keap is not the problem and replacing him with another problem is not the answer.
Given his political stance, something tells me he’d enjoy playing in Canada.
He needs to go. Wish him the best but if we are truly rebuilding, it needs to be a full rebuild. No hold overs.
A lot of Niners pro web sites are pushing for Trubitski or Watson. If Cleveland drafts T&AM DE Garrett the Niners should draft immediately AL LB Reuben Foster.
The point is: CK7 deserves a final chance rather than waste a 1st. rd. draft on a rookie QB. There is a QB at USC named Sam Darnold that is better than any draft QB that will be available on 2018 draft. That’s QB worth two draft choices. Look him up. Better yet watch the 01/02/2017 Rose Bowl.
THe Niner should address the defense WRs and the OL.
Agree about first round draft choice. Disagree about Kap. If Kelly was still here I could somewhat agree. BTW, Shannhan will be a much better HC.
Agree totally. I think we should also consider trading Joe Staley (to a team that is superbowl bound). That’s only fair to him for the sacrifice and work he put in.
The problem is that the best you’ll get is a third rounder. Good luck with that.
Can we use an actual game photo of Kaep instead of this dbag version that keeps getting reused?
Best comment of the year.
Afreakinmen
D E B A T A B L E
This person uses the : “dbag” word and it’s OK. I quoted statistics and I am subject to the majesty moderation. HOH. HOH Santa Claus in February>LOVELY!
Good riddance if he leaves the NFL
Kap can be good. Let’s see you guys play Qb with injuries, hurt players, retired players. He lost his whole team from three years ago. Dak couldn’t do what kap did trying to over come those odds. Stay tuff Kap! ✊
Dak couldn’t do any worse. Kap needs to go. He needs a fresh start somewhere else as bad as the 9ers need a fresh start at that position. And many other positions.
I do believe a fresh start is needed for both, I just believe if he was on a better team people wouldn’t be dogging on him as hard, because he would be playing better.
Dak had NFL best OL, a great RB named ZEEK and top WR named Des Bryant. Should I go on?
PLS. close the case.
One more thing, Dak also had first time HOFer TE named Jason Witten. PLS. stop the apples/oranges comparison.
Thanks
Kap had the best o line in the league, Frank gore, Vernon Davis, anquan, and crab. Dak was still a better pocket qb with progressions and accuracy over all. Kap made some amazing throws that year bit overall accuracy and reads struggled still
Kaep wit that team still went to the super bowl , next year went to the nfc championship, then with the front office acting dumb (Baalke; York) he gets caught in a bad year for the whole program and we still went 8-8. Kaep is a winner. If he had more talent we would be right back.
HAD = past tense
Yes, stay strong Kap… Dowhat you think is best for you. There are too many QB’S and coaches on social media. Stop hating on Kap, he has more backbone then most of you critics. How many of you all would have stood up at your job for Blacks being killed and our race being disrepected everyday and no one gives a dam, cause we are the wrong race… I am hearing more and more this stance is a Nessa stance and not Kap. I hope not because, I read an article where she said Kap does whatever she tells him to do. I hope this is not true Kap , cause a woman talking noise like that does not have any respsect for you. Open your eyes about this woman…..
He should be gone from SF regardless. He’ll be feeling the effects of age soon and he doesn’t fit the offense the 49er’s will run now. He’s just not that good anymore, mediocre starter at best.
Why is it that no one is discussing the merit of his play. He’s played well enough to get a look and we have no better options to replace him at the moment. All the names being thrown around are not the answer.
That’s literally all they’ve been discussing for like the past 30 comments. Kap is not a good pocket QB. His accolades stem from a strong running game, defense, and receiving corps. His accuracy during those times was higher because he ran a lot and was given one look reads off of play action. Every time teams clamped down in the box and dares him to throw it was disastrous for him. He’s not a good QB.
The voice of reason! Kaep is our best option. We can draft a QB but keeping Kaepernick to compete and mentor would be smart.
If CK7 stays why waste a draft pick on QB, Address the defense, ILB, WR, OL and TE. The QB to go ALL out after is USC Sam Darnold in 2018 who is CFB best QB bar none.
What merit Kap was 1-7 this season.
Doc:
Do you care to review that: “1-7 this season?” Let’s look at simple FB/arithmetic:
FB: 11 on D, 11 on O = 22
NFL team roster = 53
Simple arithmetic 53-22 = 31
53 = Team work, that’s how it works.
Did I miss anything?
He’s realizing nobody will give him a starting job and for nowhere near the money was getting from Niners. See ya, go get your payday
The Niners might as well keep Kap for next season. Any qb they hey via the draft isn’t going to be any better and any free agent they get is either an unknown or past his prime with the exception being Cousins.
Their first pick should be either Ruben from Alabama or Mike Evans. They shouldn’t look at any of these qbs until round 3 at the earliest.
Mike Williams you mean from Clemson? Mike Evans currently plays for the Bucs.
The writing is already on the wall. Colin wore out his welcome in the bay! I know people tend to think Californians are all the type of people that like his “activism”, but the Silicon Valley isn’t dominated by liberals like the rest of the state (a handful of CEO types claiming otherwise is irrelevant. Foot all fans from the bay all agree, Colin is a joke. The half white adopted spoiled brat burned all his bridges. My family has multiple adopted children and none of them would ever behave this way. If I was his adoptive parents I would change my last name.
My point about the adoption is he talks about race yet was raised by well off non black people…
CK7 was reared by Caucasian adoptive parents, so what? Let’s leave the racial issue out. The article title is: CK7 Undecided On Opt-Out.
Thanks
Why do you liberals get so butthurt about everything?
You mean like a conservative president that literally whines about anything and everything negative about him on Twitter?
You mean a president who doesn’t just play golf and promote black lives matter rallies?
Trump is golfing right now and is on his 2nd vacation in 3 weeks. Sooo now what?
Smh everything goes racial you do not kno that man or his life. That has nothing to do with his play he a grown ass man he can protest all he want. I wish he had more talent around him so he could back it up with his play. Stop Acting like you know him personally.
When someone’s paying him $16 million a year he cannot protest all he wants
Your an complete idiot and its not your fault warpaint because you were probably raised by idiots
Wow. I hope entire family dies in a raging house fire
You’re obviously black
You guys all sound really tough pushing buttons on your phones. Calling Kaepernick obviously has the skills to be a quarterback in the national football league. With that being said he’s being paid to be a quarterback in the National Football League not a civil rights activist. His focus should be on his abilities as a quarterback. All the political stuff in the racial stuff only draws attention away from that and also sends bad vibes around the locker room and the team which takes away from the team. I have no issue with his believes but he needs to leave them at home and not on the football field
Whatever:
1. POTUS salary is $400K minus one dollar which Mr.Trump refused to get.
2. Vacation is more than two days.
3. POTUS is up @ 0500.
4. To bed @ 2400
5. How many vacations did the last Pres. take including the one to Palm Springs?
I was raised well by black birth parents.
This racist crap isn’t needed. You don’t know this man, and it’s likely you don’t know anyone that’s black at all. If you did, you’d change the bs you spew.
This isn’t a liberal or conservative thing. This is you’re a racist pos and are a major part of the problem in this country.
Plus, nothing you said has anything to do with this article.
You sound like you need to go potty
Speak for yourself.
I hope he is not on this roster next year. I will be very disappointed. I have always stuck up for him but I am really over making up excuses for his poor play.
90.6 QBR(16 TDs/4INTs) passing rate throwing to mediocre WRs/TE and behind a mediocre OL. That does NOT equate to: “poor play”, does it?
Thanks
It equals something else. We were in games simply because of his play last year. It’s not like we aren’t overpaying crappy WRs like Torrey Smith, right?
I think hes the best chance we got he can still play lets be honest receivers that can actually catch OL that can protect him offence will be back in super bowl contention. Defense is another story. He didn’t magical lose it the team fell apart around him.
I wonder if next year’s Super Bowl pregame ceremonies will include Super Bowl grades that came from l white colleges. Oh. Crap that would be racist
WTF does that have to do with this conversation?
Call the league offices and give them your advice. I’m sure they’d love to hear it.
Yes, that’s offensive and racist. It’s not about being PC. You try to justify your bigoted views with this thinly veiled excuse.
So it was OK to have the Super Bowl greats from only black colleges. I love the double standard
I think you should reconsider your comments because you obviously dont know anything about the niners or football.
I own a sports shop in northern California. You dont know me. Why are your feelings so butthurt. Go cry on mommys lap and get lost ..
When you make a valid point about the article itself instead of turning into a your bigoted opinion then I’ll “get lost”
I do NOT understand your “racial issue” point. I saw that segment and I was NOT offended. Respectfully if you are that thin skinned or hypersensitive then by ALL means stay-off forums.
Objectivity and open minded bloggers are appreciated.
Thank you
I think CK is a great QK and the only reason he had a bad year was because he had a bad team around him.
Can’t tell if LAAJR is Nessa or Colin Kaepernick himself.
I have big respect for kaep but I think he should give him self a chance & try different options.
Locker room cancer
The 49ers players themselves voted CK7 to the Leshmont(like team MVP) award. How can that be: “locker room cancer?” >>Respond.
He’s like the bad side of Antonio Brown and his dumb antics….at least AB is elite and just wants to be heard….this guy is overpaid and sucks and no leader in sure….can’t wait until he fades into darkness on a bench as a third string.
$16.9 million in cap space or keep Kap. ?
Hmm, That’s an easy one.
I’d take him back on a 1 year deal to prove himself. But, I would first release him because I would not pay him 16.9 mil for this season. I’d only bring him back on a 9-12 mil 1 year contract.
It’s like every few weeks he’ll say something to get back in the news. His whole SJW act was for attention. He didn’t get “woke” by accident, it was a tactic to get some spotlight at the moment when he would have just been the backup QB on a terrible team.
Invalid boca chula:
“woke”, what?
Try awaken Sherlock…
Whoosh.
Google woke.
D U L Y N O T E D