Broncos Want 49ers To Pay $4.9M Of Colin Kaepernick’s Salary To Complete Trade

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that while the 49ers and Broncos have the parameters of an agreement in principle on a trade for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the issue holding up a deal relates to Kaepernick’s contract.

According to Schefter, the Broncos are willing to pay Kaepernick $7 million for the 2016, but want the 49ers to pick up the remaining $4.9 million of his $11.9 million salary.

San Francisco is reportedly unwilling to do so and think they shouldn’t be on the hook to pay a portion of his salary, especially when they would like to keep Kaepernick on their roster.

In regards to a pay cut, Schefter writes that Kaepernick has been unwilling to forfeit the $4.9 million to make the deal work up to this point.

A high-level source tells Schefter that “it would take two seconds” for the teams to finalize the proposed deal that would send a mid-round pick to the 49ers for Kaepernick.

Some have downplayed the notion of the two teams have a trade agreement in place, but Schefter is citing sources from both teams who believethey can “finalize it with one phone call.”

Kaepernick, 28, is in 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 a Kaepernick trade as the news is available.