49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s $11.9M Salary Now Guaranteed

Update:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the deadline for the 49ers to release QB Colin Kaepernick before his 2016 $11.9 million salary became guaranteed has passed.

• Albert Breer adds that Kaepernick’s also receives a $400,000 workout bonus and $2 million in per-game bonuses this season.
• Breer also gets the sense that things have “thawed a little bit” between the 49ers and Kaepernick, but there’s still a ways to go.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the 49ers will not be releasing QB Colin Kaepernick before the April 1 deadline in which his $11.9 million salary becomes guaranteed.

This should come as little surprise, seeing as San Francisco has maintained for some time now that releasing Kaepernick was not an option for them.

Even with Kaepernick’s salary guaranteed for the 2016 season, Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee recently mentioned that there’s still a chance he could be traded in the event he’s willing to restructure his contract to facilitate a trade out of San Francisco.

Barrows added trade talks involving Kaepernick could pick up once Ryan Fitzpatrick signs with other Jets or Broncos.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN recently reported that talks between the 49ers and Broncos involving Kaepernick aren’t dead, but there just isn’t a lot momentum towards them reaching a deal.

According to Fowler, the Broncos may do a deal if the 49ers are willing to take a late-round pick for Kaepernick, but all indications are that they would prefer to keep him than accept a low draft pick for him.

Kaepernick, 28, is entering the third year of his seven-year, $126.97 million contract that included $61 million guaranteed and stands to make a base salary of $13.9 million for the 2016 season.

While those numbers are impressive on their own, the contract is essentially a pay-as-you-go agreement that includes ways for San Francisco to walk away with limited repercussions, as long as Kaepernick is healthy.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Kaepernick would free up $8,493,493 in available cap space and create $7,397,260 in dead money.

In 2015, Kaepernick threw for 1,615 yards while completing 59.3 percent of his passes to go along with six touchdowns and five interceptions over the course of eight games. He also added 228 yards rushing and a touchdown.

We’ll have more regarding Kaepernick as the news is available.