The San Francisco 49ers will keep quarterback Colin Kaepernick unless they’re “blown away” with a trade offer, according to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport.
This is significant because Kaepernick’s $11.9 million base salary for 2016 becomes guaranteed Friday if he’s still on San Francisco’s roster. The 28-year-old also has a $1.125 million roster bonus and a $400,000 offseason workout bonus due to him this year, according to ProFootball Talk.
Obviously, this is a huge price to pay for a quarterback who lost his job to Blaine Gabbert last season. Gabbert likely will be the starter with Kaepernick relegated to backup duties if he’s still on the roster. There’s even been some talk as to whether the Niners should draft a quarterback next month with the seventh overall pick. A trade certainly would make sense.
The problem, of course, is the 49ers don’t seem to have much of a market for Kaepernick, whose agents reportedly asked the 49ers for permission to seek potential trades. The Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos were linked to Kaepernick in trade rumors, but the Browns signed Robert Griffin III last week and the Broncos don’t appear willing to blow away the 49ers with an offer anytime soon.
Under normal circumstances, cutting Kaepernick would be an option. However, as ProFootballTalk reported Sunday, the trio of offseason surgeries Kaepernick underwent complicate the situation, as him and the NFL Players Association could argue that the 49ers should be on the hook for his salary by virtue of the quarterback still not being 100 percent recovered.
Kaepernick once was one of the most promising young quarterbacks in football before hitting a wall. He guided the 49ers to the Super Bowl during the 2012 season and to the NFC Championship Game during the 2013 season, but he since has been underwhelming, especially last season, when he threw six touchdown passes to five interceptions while appearing in just nine games.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
