San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was a perplexing case to analyze last year.
He passed for a career-high 3,369 yards and improved his pass completion percentage from the previous year. However, he also achieved his career-high in interceptions with 10 and threw less touchdowns than in his previous season.
Many critics out there would come to the conclusion that the quarterback regressed after completing a dismal 8-8 season, and enduring 13 more sacks than he did the previous year. Speaking up for the struggling quarterback is former quarterbacks coach turned offensive coordinator Geep Chryst, who summed up Kap’s 2014 season:
“Last year, you’re playing with some different sets of challenges,” Chryst said, via the San Jose Mercury News. “There was more change within the offensive line than he had experienced the last couple of years. How does that affect your production as a quarterback? You’re behind more often in games. How does that affect your production as a quarterback? I cite the fact that we had six touchdowns nullified by penalty. You plug that back into his formula, he really wasn’t … he didn’t regress off his line as much as perceived.”
Kap will be starting his third full season as the team’s No. 1 quarterback. His goal from here on out is to prove that he wasn’t just a two-year wonder that led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in 2012 and fell just short of that in 2013.
Perhaps changes in coaching and coordinator staff will help him get back the dominance he displayed a couple of years back. If Kaepernick doesn’t thrive and remains stagnate, the 49ers will once again get lost in the shuffle and fall behind their stout NFC West competition in the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals.
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