When Chip Kelly was hired as the 49ers head coach, there were plenty of people who shared the opinion that his arrival could be a good thing for quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s future with the team.
Kaepernick lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert last year and then went on injured reserve due to a left shoulder injury that required surgery. Gabbert did a better job with the 49ers than he did as the Jaguars starter and Kelly had good things to say about both quarterbacks without delving into specifics about his plans at the position.
“Obviously, Kap is an extremely talented football player and you need to have a good quarterback to win,” Kelly said. “But I was also impressed in the film I watched in terms of how Blaine played this year, also. I think statistics bear out that you probably need two good quarterbacks in this league with the injury rate quarterbacks have. I think both of those players make this an attractive situation.”
Kaepernick had right thumb and knee surgeries as well after the end of the season, which could complicate the decision the team has to make by April 1 about keeping Kaepernick. His $11.9 million salary becomes guaranteed on that date and the team won’t start any offseason work with players until a few days later.
Kelly said that they’ll get feedback from the team’s training staff about Kaepernick’s rehab and that there will be “decisions made on everybody” as he and his still incomplete coaching staff evaluate the roster in the coming weeks. Wednesday’s comments provide reason to believe that the evaluation will end with Kaepernick bidding to reclaim the starting job.
