How long will Colin Kaepernick continue to play the best football he has since 2013?
That’s anyone’s best guess.
But as we ponder the future of the 49ers, Chip Kelly deserves recognition for helping Kaepernick alleviate some of the demons that plagued him the last two seasons.
The 49ers (1-10) have not won any of Kaepernick’s six starts, but his progression on the football field has been real.
#49ers Colin Kaepernick in four starts post bye:
59.31%, 277.5 ypg, 8 TD, 2 INT, 96.0 rating, 29 runs, 223 yards (7.7 avg.)
— Chris Biderman (@ChrisBiderman) November 28, 2016
No, these aren’t franchise-quarterback level statistics were talking about. Kaepernick still has the worst completion percentage in the NFL — although there were a ton of drops against Miami including one from Torrey Smith that was intercepted.
The bottom line: Kaepernick is both protecting and moving the football up and down the field. He wasn’t doing that with regularity in 2014 under Jim Harbaugh, and he certainly wasn’t doing it in 2015 under Jim Tomsula. Clearly, Kaepernick is seeing the football field with better vision. Kelly’s play-calling and tutelage have a major reason to do with that.
Kelly’s been here before, elevating the likes of Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez, two players who may never start another game in the NFL. With less weapons than he’s ever had, Kaepernick is playing better in Kelly’s offense, and against two of the top defenses in the league — Arizona and Miami.
Would Kaepernick have had a revival with a different coach? Did something magically click in Kaepernick’s brain? Who knows. But Kelly has propped him up as an average starter — which is saying a lot.
“I think it’s just experience,” Kelly told reporters in Miami about Kap’s improvement. “Again, he missed a lot of time. We weren’t with him before so he really got his start in the Buffalo game so each game I think he’s gotten better and progressed as the games go on. There’s nothing you can do to really simulate the experience of playing in a game, especially for a quarterback, because a quarterback’s not going to get hit in practice. A quarterback’s never going to get hit in the preseason really so it’s those live reps that are so invaluable for him.
“You look at most teams that have good quarterbacks and they’ve been in their system for a long time and they’ve been very comfortable in their system, so I just think each week he gets better just with the more reps that he gets, and really the game reps, which are the most important things.”
Last week, I wrote that it was perhaps time to see Christian Ponder. Regardless of Kap’s improvement, I still don’t think he’s is the long term answer at quarterback. So you might as well see if Ponder will be a decent backup for the future.
But that premise has been put on hold. You can make the argument Colin Kaepernick is the best player right now on the 49ers roster. Taking him off the football field would hurt this offense and it would hurt Chip Kelly.
If Kelly is in the fold next year, it’s becoming increasingly likely that Kaepernick will remain in a 49ers jersey. The team will be on the hook for a $19.36 million cap hit in 2017, though, an astronomical number.
Or if Kaepernick really rides this wave of confidence, maybe a team like the Bears, Jets or Jaguars invite him to come compete for the starting quarterback job. But after receiving so many boos in Miami, Kaepernick and his agent understand a ton of teams won’t be willing to sign him because of his political activism.
Whatever the future may hold, let’s enjoy the present: Colin Kaepernick has graduated from bad to mediocre. And considering the talent that’s surrounding him, that’s really all you can ask of him.
