Joe Montana, the legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback, said in an interview with Sporting News that former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick may still be unsigned when NFL season begins.
"I'm not sure, I think there's an injury somewhere he probably gets in," Montana told the Sporting News. "In most cases, you look at Tim Tebow — a great guy and everybody was talking about him. But what it comes down to is 40 percent completion or even in the low 50s, you can't win in the league with that. You won't be in the league very long. It comes down to his play as much as anything."
Kaepernick has a career 59.8 completion percentage during his six-year career, including 72 touchdowns and over 12,200 yards. Last season, Kaepernick was 196-for-331, with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Tebow, on the other hand, ended his NFL career with a 47.9 completion percentage on only 361 attempts. His NFL career ended after the 2012 season and he now plays baseball in the New York Mets' farm system.
Montana also commented on Kaepernick's National Anthem protest that went on throughout the 2016 season.
"Everyone thinks it is the stance he took; one of the things you don't look for is distractions in the locker room. You can go back to Bill Walsh and as soon as there were guys that weren't fitting in what he was looking for, it didn't matter how good you were. You weren't on the team for very long. You have to have people who want the same thing, fighting for the same thing and willing to put in the time."
At the end of last season, the 49ers' players voted Kaepernick as the Len Eshmont Award recipient, despite a consistent talking point during 2016 that his protest was a distraction in the locker room.
Previous 49ers winning the Len Eshmont Award include Justin Smith, Bryant Young, Steve Young and Joe Montana.
- Bret Rumbeck
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Written by:Bret Rumbeck has been writing about the 49ers since 2017 for 49ers Webzone and 49ers Hub. He is a Turlock, CA native, and has worked for two members of the US House of Representatives and one US Senator. When not breaking down game film, Bret spends his time seeking out various forms of heavy metal. Feel free to follow him or direct inquiries to @brumbeck.
