Back in week 11 of 2012 The 49ers let second year QB Colin Kaepernick get his first NFL start against the Bears. The result was beating the Bears 32-7 at home, which sparked a Super Bowl run that resulted in a 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The 49ers would return to the NFC Championship game the following season only to lose 23-17 to divisional rival Seattle. Since then things have changed dramatically, Kap has lost and regained his job repeatedly throughout the last 3 years, and the 49ers haven’t been to the playoffs since 2013. Kap’s inconsistent play coupled with his refusal to salute the flag, but rather take a knee for reasons of protesting the corrupt justice system’s ways of being racially unfair against blacks and other minorities have made him an unwanted free agent.
A lot of people have been speculating why Kaepernick hasn’t been picked up by a team after being released by the 49ers and have come up with several reasons that dance around the obvious. One article has cited that Kap’s Vegan diet and commitment to the game as reasons why he’s not a viable pick for any team, but we all know that’s not the case at all. Teams may claim he’d be a distraction, but the real reason is that these teams are afraid that of Kap, is because they don’t want to deal with his protesting, which may in turn hurt the team’s reputation. Kaepernick has played okay the past three years, throwing 41 Touchdown passes Vs. 20 Interceptions, and has amassed a QB rating of 81.5 since 2014. He still has the ability to scramble out of the pocket and hurt defenses on the run, so talent wise, he can still pull it off. The 49ers have struggled the past few years for more pressing reasons, getting rid of Head Coach Jim Harbaugh hurt the team immensely, when Harbaugh was fired, the team started to fall apart, sparking the bad luck of the last 3 years. The talent around Kaepernick hasn’t been that strong either, offensively, the 49ers ranked 25th in 2014, 32nd in 2015, and 27th in 2016. But Kaepernick has been one of the few elements of the team that has been successful. The 49ers hired Kyle Shanahan on February 6th, as their new head coach, and it looks as if he’ll have QB questions on his hands. Kaepernick is a free agent and the QB’s on the 49ers’ roster don’t conjure up much confidence.
Kaepernick has been a very polarizing figure the past year or so since he infamously kneeled during the nation anthem, as long as teams continue to make excuses for Kap not being a team worthy asset, the more obvious it is to me that they don’t want the added attention on their team or the scrutiny from the media over this. Their reputations are too precious for these teams to maintain to hire a wildcard that certainly still has enough talent to get the job done.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/2016.htm
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/2015.htm
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