Chip Kelly has nothing but good things to say about Colin Kaepernick Friday morning, whom he’s had surprisingly little to say about to this point in the game.
Speaking on KNBR 680-AM’s “Murph and Mac” show (via csnbayarea.com), he praised Kaepernick’s intelligence. Kelly also said he’s “been in every meeting” and made it clear there haven’t been any issues with the embattled quarterback to hinder a working relationship.
“On a football level and on a day-to-day basis and how we get along, it’s been fantastic,” Kelly said. “We set that kind of parameter to begin with: when you’re here, we’re going to coach the heck out of you. He understands that and he’s been great with that.
“We haven’t had any ‘elephants in the room’ or anything to speak of from that standpoint. … I’ve had great interaction with Kap, and so has our quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator and everybody in the building.”
This is likely music to the ears of 49ers fans.
If there is any chance Kaepernick can put his past frustrations behind him and forge a new path for himself as a happy, willing student of Kelly, then there is hope of a bright future for the quarterback, who has much to prove.
Coming off an absolutely toxic 2015 campaign in which he was banged up to the point of needing three offseason surgeries playing for one of the NFL’s worst coaches on a team that was doomed from the start, he asked for a trade not long after. The 49ers apparently did all they could to facilitate a trade, but to no avail.
Now the two sides appear to be stuck with each other. The only thing left to do is make the best of a difficult situation.
Thankfully it sounds like that’s what is happening inside the building. Unless, of course, Kelly isn’t being entirely honest about it. But that would never happen, right?
One thing he’s definitely being honest about right now is that Kelly has “no idea” who the starting quarterback will be come September when the 49ers kick off the season. Depending on how much he buys into Kelly’s system, it could certainly be Kaepernick, who still has all the tools he did in 2013.
As he prepares to get involved on the field, he might want to listen to the wise words of Joe Montana, who recently revealed his opinion on why Kaepernick has not been a good leader.