The San Francisco 49ers have yet to name their starting quarterback for their first preseason game. Though, there appears to be a favorite emerging to start Week 1.
According to the Bay Area News Group’s Tim Kawakami, Blaine Gabbert is an “enormous favorite” to win the starting job over Colin Kaepernick.
That said, Blaine Gabbert is an enormous favorite to be the 49ers' Week 1 starter. It's what Jed & Trent want.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) August 9, 2016
This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Gabbert has been seen as the favorite over Kaepernick for some time now (more on that here).
It’s an interesting overall development. Chip Kelly was presumably brought on to help Kaepernick rebound after two disastrous seasons.
With all that said, Gabbert did perform at a much higher clip than his embattled counterpart during the 2015 campaign. He also seems to be a perfect fit for Kelly’s spread-em out, fast-paced offense.
It will be interesting to see how this story develops between now and Week 1. Though, it now appears that Gabbert has the strong upper-hand.