The San Francisco 49ers are struggling this season, currently standing at 2-6 at the halfway point. Much, but not all, of the blame can be placed at the feet of quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and the 49ers have decided to make a change to Blaine Gabbert. It has been reported, first by Kyle McLorg of BayAreaSportsGuy.com, that Gabbert will start under center in San Francisco’s Week 9 home game against the Atlanta Falcons. This benching of Colin Kaepernick means he is done in San Francisco and possibly as a truly viable starter in the NFL.
Since Kap took over for Alex Smith (now with the Kansas City Chiefs) in 2012 and helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl that season and the NFC Championship game the following season, I’ve thought he was overrated as a quarterback. He’s an excellent athlete, but he seemed more like a flash in the pan instead of a long term solution at the position. He did start off in impressive fashion, but once teams figured out how to keep him contained, instead of allowing him to use his legs, he became far less effective. He’s simply not a good passer and therefore he struggles to play from the pocket.
This season the former Nevada quarterback has completed just 59.3% of his passes for 1,615 yards. He has thrown five interceptions and six touchdowns, while failing to throw a single touchdown in five of the 49ers eight games this season. San Francisco has now gone two straight games without a touchdown and Kap continues to regress. At this point it doesn’t appear as if he will be able to right the ship in San Francisco.
There is zero chance Kaepernick is on the 49ers roster next season. Kap signed a contract in 2014 which had a total value of $126 million and $61 million in guaranteed money. In 2016 and 2017 Kap is due to make $16.7 million and $19.3 million, respectively. There is no way San Francisco decided to bench him now for Gabbert, of all people, to then turn around and pay him $16.7 million next season. If the 49ers fail to trade Kap by the 4 p.m. ET trade deadline on Tuesday (the Philadelphia Eagles make some sense), they could cut him at the end of the season. If they decide to part ways with him before April 1, they would save $6.9 million next season.
The 49ers believe they have nothing to lose at this point by starting the former first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Blaine Gabbert, who has been terrible throughout his career. The organization may as well see what they have in Gabbert, even if his career record is 5-22, and his last victory came on Sept. 23, 2012 when he was under center for the Jaguars.
Gabbert won’t be the answer for the 49ers going forward, but apparently neither is Kaepernick, and the 49ers will have to address their needs at quarterback if they want to be competitive in the NFL. But nevertheless, the organization felt they needed to start the process of moving on from Kap.
Main Photo:
