Colin Kaepernick Is Not a Starting QB Right Now

This has been discussed ad nauseam here and elsewhere, but it bears repeating how astonishingly swift Colin Kaepernick’s fall was. He made a Super Bowl and almost made another. When he played the Packers in the playoffs, it felt like he could run for 20 yards whenever he wanted.

Today comes news, which is not altogether surprising, that Colin Kaepernick’s time with the 49ers is probably ending soon:

Putting aside whether NFL teams will consider his activism a distraction, Kaepernick’s skills have greatly diminished since Jim Harbaugh got run out of town. While Kaepernick did have 16 TDs and just 4 INTs this past season, he nevertheless completed under 60% of his passes, and had just 6.77 yards per attempt, ranking 24th in the NFL. Wins are not in and of themselves a QB stat, and the 49ers had lots of holes, but they were 4-20 in the last 24 games he started.

One interesting wrinkle to track this offseason is if Kaepernick would think it’s worth it to keep playing on a “prove it” deal if there aren’t any opportunities available to him to start. And, by the same token, how many teams out there want a backup who will draw the attention that Kaepernick will?