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Hall of Famer Jerry Rice praises Blaine Gabbert

The San Francisco 49ers are headed for a quarterback competition when training camp kicks off.

Upon the conclusion of the preseason, we should find out if the team decides to keep Blaine Gabbert under center or will shift the starting duties back to Colin Kaepernick.

As it currently stands, Gabbert is in the good graces of the team and has received positive feedback over the past few months. Joining in on the bandwagon in support of Gabbert is former 49ers and Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice.

“These two guys, they’re gonna have to compete in training camp. It should be pretty good since Gabbert, he really has excelled a lot,” Rice said, via Connor Orr of NFL.com. “I had an opportunity to meet him, and you can just tell the confidence. He feels he has a legitimate chance of being the starter.”

Gabbert has been somewhat of a front runner in Chip Kelly’s race to eventually name a starting quarterback.

Though, Kaepernick has been making progress and appears to be firmly in the competition as camp starts.

Rice also gave Kap a shout-out when he noted that quarterback mobility is important to Kelly’s scheme.

“So you need a quarterback that can run, a quarterback that’s mobile, a quarterback that can get outside the pocket, extend plays and still have vision downfield and throw the football. It should be pretty competitive, but there’s a lot of question marks and it’s up to Chip Kelly to somehow put this team together.”

Maybe it’s his subjectivity showing, but Rice also talked up the 49ers as legitimate contenders in the NFC West. That’s definitely a big leap.

Not only is there a huge question mark at quarterback, but the rest of the team is gutted from San Francisco’s “glory days” under former head coach Jim Harbaugh.

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