If Colin Kaepernick had it his way, he wouldn’t have been on the sideline when the San Francisco 49ers opened the preseason Sunday evening.
In between rehabbing from multiple off-season surgeries, the embattled signal caller spent the spring requesting a trade from San Francisco. It’s obvious that returning to Northern California wasn’t his first choice.
He had been used as a scapegoat by a front office that’s found a way to make scapegoats out of pretty much everyone not currently within the organization’s hierarchy.
At that point, it seemed that Kaepernick was destined to head to the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns or New York Jets.
Though, compensation returning to San Francisco and Kaepernick’s own inflated sense of self forced a continuation of this ugly marriage.
It’s akin to parents staying together until their children leave the house for college. By this we mean that the 49ers and Kaepernick really had no choice but to continue their flawed relationship.
Even when first-year head coach Chip Kelly got to work with the former Super Bowl quarterback, it became apparent San Francisco was leaning towards starting Blaine Gabbert.
Now with the preseason underway, it’s become pretty clear that San Francisco’s quarterback “competition” is nothing less than a joke.
After being given a clean bill of health, Kaepernick took part in the team’s training camp in full. That’s until he was mysteriously sidelined the past few days with “arm fatigue.”
This comes at a time when Kaepernick himself had not even thrown a preseason pass. It also led to him sitting the team’s exhibition opener against the Houston Texans (more on that here).
“Arm fatigue” or something completely different? Maybe, and this is pure conjecture, San Francisco is telling us that Gabbert is the unquestioned starter.
Both Kaepernick and Gabbert seem to be a perfect fit in Kelly’s system. He goes with the spread formation, getting the receivers the ball in space. He goes up-tempo and allows his quarterbacks to run on a consistent basis.
These two quarterbacks have had success in similar schemes in the past. That’s one of the primary reasons it seemed Kaepernick had a decent chance to earn the starting gig, potentially even acting as a fresh start for the embattled quarterback.
Not even two weeks into the preseason, and it’s apparent that this competition is nothing less than a fraud. Gabbert will almost certainly be the Week 1 starter, leaving Kaepernick to act the part of a $15.9 million clipboard holder.
This should all be an indication that the marriage between Kaepernick and San Francisco should come to an end. It might force the 49ers to eat that near $16 million cap hit. It might lead to Kaepernick being out of work for some time.
None of that really matters. If Kaepernick is going to do nothing more than hold a playbook while wearing a headset, what’s the point of him being on this roster?
At this point, it’s apparent he doesn’t figure in the team’s future. And even if Gabbert struggles, the expectation here has to be that San Francisco will give Jeff Driskel a look.
We’re talking about a squad that’s not going to compete for a playoff spot. In this, it seems rather pointless for Kaepernick and the 49ers to continue this charade.
That’s the top takeaway from what’s been a disastrous past several months for the two sides.