Rumors emerged last night that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was on the trade block.
Those reports were quickly refuted by Niners GM Trent Baalke himself and the issue was, presumably, put to bed.
Not so fast.
Monday, a new report emerged that Kaepernick is indeed on the NFL trade block and, more importantly, the Chicago Bears are interested in adding the dual-threat talent.
"Despite major media outlets denying it, I've been told that Kaepernick is indeed on the market. #Bears rumored as interested," tweeted Aaron Leming of Bearreport.com.
With a quarterback depth chart consisting of Jay Cutler, Jimmy Clausen and David Fales, it's not hard to see why the Bears and new head coach John Fox and GM Ryan Pace would potentially be interested in adding the fleet-footed Kaepernick.
Cutler signed a fat new contract just prior to last season and the team is seemingly saddled with him for at least one more year - they'll incur a $19.5 million dead money cap penalty if they cut or trade him.
In 15 games last year he completed 370 passes on 561 attempts for 3,812 yards, 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
The numbers aren't awful; they're just nothing special in terms of NFL production. And when they come coupled with questionable leadership skills and a personality many have deemed unfit for successful NFL quarterback play, the fact that Cutler is slated to make $15.5 million and count for $16.5 million against the cap next season seems even more ludicrous.
Kaepernick, former Niners coach Jim Harbaugh's hand-picked franchise signal-caller, has helmed San Francisco to one of the most successful runs in recent NFL history.
His passing stats were increasingly annually - he finished the 2013 season with 243 completions, 3,197 yards, 21 touchdowns and just eight interceptions - before the entire 49ers team took a step back last year.
Still, in a down season he managed a 60.5 completion percentage and 19 touchdowns through the air, as well as 639 yards rushing.
