Jason Cole of B/R reports that the 49ers are debating whether to allow QB Colin Kaepernick to seek a trade out of San Francisco after he formally requested permission on Thursday.
According to Cole, the 49ers like that Kaepernick makes a relatively low base salary in 2016 of $11.9 million, and even though he’s struggled, they view this as a very affordable salary.
On top of that, the 49ers still believe Kaepernick can be a star player and seem to think Chip Kelly’s system would be a perfect fit for his skill set.
While Kelly’s system could be a good fit for Kaepernick, Ian Rapoport reported last night that Kelly wants Kaepernick to compete for the starting quarterback job this summer with Blaine Gabbert, but this isn’t something Kaepernick is interested in doing.
Kelly recently told reporters that Kaepernick indicated he wanted to be back with the team.
“He wants to be here,” Kelly said. “He has never expressed to me that he didn’t want to be here. He expressed to me that he’s excited about getting healthy and getting going. And we’re excited about him getting healthy and getting going.”
The April 1 first is especially important in regards to Kaepernick, as his base salary becomes guaranteed for the 2016 season at that point.
Previous reports have said that Kaepernick would like to move on, and he may have interest in playing for the Jets, so that’s at least something to keep an eye on moving forward.
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’s future with the 49ers as the news is available.
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THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH: Just when is Baalke’s nonsense about “unloading” rumors going to stop! Has thls GM done enough of this type of dysfunctional damage for the past few years?
You forgot to mention in your article that the only reasons Kap had a poor year were his 3 bad injuries he played through, that all required surgeries. And his OL was horrible at pass blocking and his coaching staff was horrible. All 3 problems have been resolved.