It has been reported that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick would opt out of his contract and become a free agent in March. Of course, that report was prior to the official hiring of Kyle Shanahan as the team's new head coach. Kaepernick, who has been living in New York since the season ended and working out there in an effort to return to his pre-surgery weight and strength, has not had much of an opportunity to meet face-to-face with his new head coach or even his new general manager, John Lynch.
Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee has reported that Kaepernick would be open to returning to the 49ers in 2017, but would the 49ers want him back? Does he fit what Shanahan is looking for in a quarterback?
On Tuesday, Mike Garafolo was asked that on NFL Network. "[The 49ers] are going to be open to anything here," Garafolo said. "Like I said, there are so many moving parts in this quarterback market that they're not going to make a call right now and they don't have to make a call right now. As we get closer, that last week before the start of the league year in early March is when Kaepernick has to decide if he wants to opt out of this deal here.
Can Colin Kaepernick succeed in Kyle Shanahan's offense?
"Now, as far as Kyle Shanahan and what he would like to have in a quarterback, he would love to have a guy that can read the field, that can make throws, that can run the type of offense that Matt Ryan was running and that's an intricate offense. And the knock on Colin Kaepernick is that he has not been able to read the field. He has not been able to go through those kinds of progressions. It wouldn't seem like he'd be the kind of guy that would fit into a Kyle Shanahan system.
"Plus the fact that this is just a complete reset here for the 49ers whether you're talking about the coaching staff, whether you're talking about the front office. Even offensively and defensively, they're going to be running a different scheme. It's going to be a 4-3 scheme. Sort of what the Seahawks and Falcons and Jaguars have been running. So it's just a complete reset across the roster so why, at the most important position, would you have continuity there? Would you look for that? I would expect that they're going to be looking to move on here from Colin Kaepernick."
What did Shanahan have to say when asked what he looks for in a quarterback for his system? "I want a natural, pure thrower," Shanahan said last week on KNBR. "What that means is he was born to do it and I don't believe there's -- there's definitely not 32 of those on the planet. There's probably seven. You want a guy, that throwing motion, the strength, accuracy, it's effortless and that's what he's done his whole life.
"The windows in this league are very small. It's hard to get guys open and when you have a pure thrower who doesn't have to think about it, it makes things a lot easier. Now, there's been a lot of guys who are very good throwers who couldn't handle the pressure, who didn't like standing in that pocket, who couldn't think under duress and they haven't made it.
"If you're not one of those guys, there's other attributes that can make you successful. Mobility is huge. If you're not the most pure thrower in the world but you can make a lot of plays with your legs and some off schedule stuff, defenses don't have many answers for off schedule stuff."