A story broke Tuesday night that Colin Kaepernick wants to get out of San Francisco to play for the New York Jets. But it is just not true, per Dom Costentino of NJ.com.
The original story originated from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News as an exclusive report, though nobody else has been able to confirm Mehta’s source. It did seem to come out of left field, and there are some serious holes in the argument that the Jets would be Kaepernick’s “preferred destination.”
Costentino’s source, who is “a person familiar with the situation” (likely someone in Kaepernick’s camp), says the report is not true: “No,” the person said. “Nothing. No idea where it came from. Random, strange article.”
As pointed out by Costentino and many others, the Jets and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick are both on the same page about wanting the veteran back as the starter in 2016, and there is nothing standing in the way of him re-signing with the team. He led a darn good offense last season and nearly got the Jets into the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick was on the bench in favor of Blaine Gabbert.
With that in mind it seems completely unlikely that New York would be interested in bringing Kaepernick aboard, or that the 49ers quarterback would see New York as an attractive destination.
Furthermore, to this point nobody knows how Kaepernick might fit within Chip Kelly’s plans for his offense in San Francisco. However, many, including some opposing defensive coaches, believe the quarterback would be a nightmare to defend as a read-option quarterback for the 49ers.
Kaepernick torched opposing defenses in such an offense at the University of Nevada, and Kelly has long been rumored to be enamored with him for this reason. A quarterback who can run like Kap and throw it anywhere on the field could be one of the most dangerous weapons in the NFL, if put in a position to succeed.
Despite any hard feelings Kaepernick might have about how things went down the past couple of seasons, his best chance to succeed in the NFL right now still lies with the 49ers and Kelly.