Colin Kaepernick got his chance Monday because Alex Smith sustained a concussion. And Smith did not clear the final hurdle -- a contact test -- until Friday afternoon.Kaepernick took the vast majority of the 49ers' practice snaps last week as the 49ers prepared to face the Saints, and he is expected to start Sunday in New Orleans.
Former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, talking Sunday morning on the NFL Network, took a stance against 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh's decision to change at this point in the season."Week 12 of a season is not the time that you start playing with potential," Warner said. "Potential is for training camp, preseason, for figuring out during that period of time, 'Does he allow us the opportunity to win?' Alex Smith, what he's done over the last two years for this football team, this is a mistake in not starting him. He needs to be the guy and it's going to be tough if Kaepernick doesn't play well today and now you're coming back saying, 'Alex, we're going to put you back in there.'"Former NFL executive Michael Lombardi weighed in on how much improvement he has seen from Kaepernick."He has improved 1,000 percent," Lombardi said. "When you watched him at Nevada-Reno, he could run, he was athletic, he had a gun, but he was inaccurate and he was all over the place. Up until that game against Chicago, he displayed some of those limitations in preseason and the regular season -- more run than pass. But against Chicago, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman, the offensive coordinator, they did a great job of constructing the offense that suits his talent, made him throw the ball up the field and he did it with accuracy - something he didn't do all of the time in college. Colin Kaepernick deserves a ton of credit for improving in that area and really ultimately overcoming any limitations he had. Now the sky is the limit."
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