If the Oakland Raiders had their way, Colin Kaepernick would be playing 20 minutes east of his current city and not be the star quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, according to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback.
"I think about it all the time, believe me,'' Hue Jackson, the Raiders coach on Draft Day 2011, said Sunday night. "No question in my mind we wanted it to happen, and no question I thought it could happen. We wanted the kid in the worst way.''
King spoke with Kaepernick and his father, Rick, before the two went to the Turlock Pitman High School graduation to see the school’s football coach Brendan Harris before he retired.
Before the 2011 draft, Kaepernick was convinced he would be wearing black and silver once the season started.
"Coach Jackson told me before the draft they were going to do everything they could to try to get me,'' Kaepernick said. "I thought there was a good chance they'd pick me. I never heard anything from the 49ers before the draft after I worked out for them [at Nevada]. I just figured they weren't interested."
According to King, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and General Manager Trent Baalke were very crafty. Both the 49ers and Raiders wanted Kaepernick. However, the 49ers were a little quieter about it as opposed to the Raiders.
The two teams figured they could hold off until the second round to get Kaepernick. Soon, the 49ers made their move. They attempted to make a deal with the New England Patriots to get the first pick in the second round but to no avail. The Raiders did the same and got the same result.
"When we talked internally,'' said Jackson, "we knew we needed to fortify the offensive line, and we really liked Stefan Wisniewski. I think [Al Davis] felt we'd get a lineman who we figured could play for us for 10 years, then we had two third-round picks, and we'd try to move up late in the second round or higher in the third and try to get Colin."
Unfortunately for the Raiders, the 49ers were able to make a trade with the Denver Broncos to climb near the top of the second round. "When they made the trade,'' recalled Jackson. "I knew exactly what they were going to do. They were going to take Colin."
According to Colin’s dad, Rich, Al Davis chucked a glass to the other side of the room when the 49ers selected Colin in the first round.
"I don't know that he threw anything,'' Jackson said. "But he was upset. So was I. Scouting him, I fell in love with the kid. Leader, won a ton of games at Nevada, really impressive when you talked to him, strong, all the tools to win in the NFL. No doubt in my mind he was going to be good.''
King posed a question about whether or not Colin ponders what life would have been like on the other team.
"I don't think too much about things like that,'' said the quarterback for the reigning NFC champs. "But I am pretty happy how things turned out."
