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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick met with the media following practice today and was asked if had decided to out of the remainder of his contract following the season. "No, I haven't made any decisions on that," said Kaepernick. "Those decisions will come after the season."
On Sunday morning, Ian Rapoport of
NFL Media reported that
Kaepernick would void the remainder of his contract following the season and test free agency.
His San Jose home is for sale and, this summer, he
purchased a condominium in New York City. On behalf of Kaepernick, a team spokesman clarified that the sale of Kaepernick's home is "an investment decision."
"There's no conversations with other teams, anything like that," Kaepernick said today. "Right now, I'm part of the 49ers. My focus is helping my teammates get a win this week."
Kaepernick was asked if there had been any discussions this past offseason with the New York Jets. It was rumored that his girlfriend, radio and television personality Nessa Diab, who lives in New York City, wanted him to play for the Jets. "This past offseason we had talks with different people," Kaepernick said. "But once again, that's in the past. We're focused on this week."
On Sunday, Kaepernick was benched at the beginning of the fourth quarter in favor of Blaine Gabbert after completing just one of his five passes for four yards. Prior to Sunday's loss in Chicago, Kaepernick had thrown for 1,110 yards with eight touchdowns and only two interceptions in his previous four games.
Today, offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins announced that Kaepernick would start against the Jets on Sunday. "They told me this morning that I would be starting," Kaepernick told reporters. "After the game, it was something that, I don't know if anybody really knew (who would be starting). So, for me, I wanted to make sure regardless I'm coming in and preparing to make sure I'm ready to go."
"Kap's going to be the starter and we'll go from there," Modkins told the media earlier today. "We just decided during the game to try to see if Blaine could give us a spark and Kap's back to being a starter. It's nothing other than that."
Kaepernick has not verbally committed to the 49ers beyond this season and has had a rocky relationship with the team in recent years – particularly with general manager Trent Baalke. If Baalke were no longer with the team following this season, many within the media believe that it may open a window for Kaepernick to return in 2017 if he wishes to do so. If he were to do so, he is scheduled to make $14.5 million with the 49ers next season.
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San Francisco 49ers players aren't around their Santa Clara headquarters right now because the team is on its bye week. However, they will return next week to begin preparations for the Indianapolis Colts.
The off time is a good opportunity to listen to analysts like Greg Cosell, who joined KNBR today and shared his thoughts on rookie quarterback Trey Lance's first start this past weekend, a 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
What did the respected long-time analyst think of the 21-year-old's starting debut? Lance ran the football 16 times for 89 yards, which was a bit unexpected considering head coach Kyle Shanahan had said that fans could expect the rookie looking more like a quarterback and less like a running back in the game,
Former San Francisco 49ers tackle Joe Staley, now an analyst with NBC Sports Bay Area, shared the story of how he learned about the DeForest Buckner trade last year. Needless to say, he was shocked. Staley had hoped for Buckner to carry on the leadership role after the offensive lineman decided to retire.
"Back in March, I had made the decision with my family that I was going to retire and step away from the football field," Staley said during the 49ers pre-game show. "And DeForest was one of the first players that I wanted to go talk to. I kind of wanted to pass the torch a little bit, [say], 'This is going to be your team now,' because he's looked at and viewed on that team as being the culture set or the leader of that squad.
"He flipped it on me when I
