Yesterday, it seemed as if the San Francisco 49ers had made progress towards stability after they announced that they would be retaining quarterback Colin Kaepernick's services for 2016. Today, they are back to square one as Kaepernick's agents have requested a trade, according to ESPN.
What's worse is that the quarterback's decision undermines new head coach Chip Kelly's comments Thursday to the media.
"He wants to be here," Kelly said of Kaepernick. He's never expressed to me that he didn't want to be here. He expressed to me that he's excited about getting healthy and getting going. And we're excited about him getting healthy and getting going."
There has been much debate over Kaepernick's future with the team following his poor 2015 season and his recovery from surgeries to his left knee, left shoulder and right knee. On April 1 his $11.9 million base salary for 2016 becomes fully guaranteed, a price San Fran seemed willing to pay just yesterday. However, the franchise's relationship with Kaepernick has been deteriorating ever since he was benched midseason after a 2-6 start.
That mistrust was reinforced when the quarterback decided to have private doctors operate on him, rather than team doctors.
Yet Kelly was singing a different tune les than 24 hours ago.
"He's seemed excited every time I've talked to him," the coach said. "I've also learned to not believe everything that's on the Internet.
"There's a reason he was on IR. I mean, there was something wrong with him."
Both Kelly and 49ers general manager Trent Baalke talked as if they expected Kaepernick to be present for the offseason training program beginning on April 4.
"Kap's really good," Kelly said. "I mean, he had the ball on the 5-yard line [about]...to win a Super Bowl. You can just look at the tape to see how talented he is. You know, our job is acquiring talent, not getting rid of talent."
Still, Kelly gave Kaepernick a lukewarm endorsement at his introductory news conference where he also praised the play of Blaine Gabbert.
"You've got to see them in general," Kelly said Thursday. "I think one of the misconceptions is how somebody can evaluate a tape and say, 'This guy made the wrong decision.' You don't know what the play call was."
We'll keep you posted as more details begin to emerge.
