According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the 49ers would fully guarantee QB Colin Kaepernick‘s 2016 salary right now if he would drop his request to be traded.
That’s probably not going to happen, as Kaepernick’s salary becomes guaranteed as of April 1, so he may as well just wait it out. There’s also been some speculation that even if the 49ers were to release, the NFLPA could argue that it should already be guaranteed, given that he’s still not 100 percent healthy.
Rapoport adds that the 49ers plan to keep Kaepernick “unless they are blown away” with a trade offer.
In regards to a potential trade, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports 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.
Fowler points out that the Broncos don’t have a lot of cap space to work with right now, and have some notable players to sign to long-term deals like OLB Von Miller, which means there isn’t a great deal of incentive to work something out for Kaepernick right now.
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.
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