Ron Jaworski thinks Colin Kaepernick needs to make a football decision, rather than a business decision. Speaking in an ESPN media session, via David Michael Smith of Pro Football Talk, Jaworski made an argument for Kaepernick to choose the Denver Broncos over the San Francisco 49ers this season.
“Colin Kaepernick going to Denver would be the quickest possible path back to success because you can play to the defense, you don’t have to score 30 points a game,” Jaworski said. “I think it would be a good situation for him to get into, where he can rely on defense and not have to win games by himself.”
Interestingly, Hall of Famer Warren Moon also thinks Denver is the right landing spot for the quarterback.
From a football perspective, Jaworski and Moon might be right, but then again Kaepernick might be in a tremendous spot with the 49ers, too.
Gary Kubiak runs a run-first offense that utilizes bootleg play-action passes, which is in the quarterback’s wheelhouse.
Chip Kelly runs a run-first zone-read offense that also utilizes play-action passes on a regular basis, and Kaepernick could become the most dynamic dual-threat quarterback in the league (again) playing in San Francisco.
The biggest difference is obviously the defense. San Francisco’s defense is in rebuilding mode, whereas the Broncos featured a tremendous unit last year — one of the best in the league. However, given the recent departures via free agency perhaps the Broncos don’t really have what they did last year heading into 2016.
All this is really a moot point, though.
Kaepernick is not going to concede millions of dollars to head into another evolving situation. The Broncos will also be starting from scratch after losing their two top quarterbacks from a year ago, and Kap will have to compete for the starting role against either Blaine Gabbert or Mark Sanchez, no matter where he ends up playing.
In the end, despite his obvious disdain for the front office of the 49ers, Kaepernick will almost certainly remain in Northern California this year.
And who knows? Maybe this is the best thing that could have happened to him. If he embraces this as a new start under Kelly, who is one of the brightest offensive minds in all of football, then perhaps we all look back on this ordeal in future years and wonder what the fuss was all about.