John Lynch and Colin Kaepernick met on Wednesday to discuss the quarterback’s future with the San Francisco 49ers, and it apparently went quite well.
Lynch appeared on KNBR-AM after the visit and said they had a really positive discussion.
“I would characterize it as just a really positive discussion,” Lynch said. “I do think that there are some things that are sacred. We did have a great discussion and I think Colin left excited and we left excited.”
We know Lynch values secrecy. He made that crystal clear during his interview process with the 49ers, whom he tested by telling them he wanted no leaks regarding him throwing his hat in with the club as the next general manager.
So it’s not surprising he doesn’t want to give anything away as it pertains to the team’s thoughts about what will happen at the quarterback position. But he did offer up a bit more about his meeting with Kaepernick.
“And I think as Kyle and I believe, the evaluation process is still very much fluid. We’ve only been on the job a couple of weeks and I can tell you we both very much enjoyed being around Colin, and he seems like he’s a real good place.”
In no way is Lynch indicating the 49ers are going to keep Kaepernick or that Kaepernick won’t opt out, as is his right due to a contract restructure last season.
What we do know is that it appears whatever issues Kaepernick had with the 49ers before might not carry over now that Trent Baalke is out of the picture. Kaepernick is the one who reached out to Lynch, after all, to set up the meeting that happened on Wednesday, so it seems he’s eager to forge a new relationship with people he can trust.
If Kaepernick does stay with the 49ers, he has a manageable cap figure of $19.36 million. The 49ers will still have over $80 million in cap space if he stays on, so money isn’t the issue. The issue is whether the 49ers believe Kaepernick is a fit for Kyle Shanahan’s offense. We look forward to finding out that answer in the near future.