SANTA CLARA — Tuesday was less about Colin Kaepernick and much more about a brighter future that awaits the San Francisco 49ers.
Trent Baalke, move to the side. Better yet, start packing your belongings.
The 49ers are Chip Kelly’s football team moving forward and the clever coach watched Baalke as he dug his own grave.
Kelly named Kaepernick his Week 6 starting quarterback on Tuesday and with it came a passing of the torch. Completely out of options because of Baalke’s hatchet job of the roster, Kelly is no longer scared to admit the truth.
“It was really one of the only maneuvers we could make, based on our depth,” Kelly said.
That’s a damning quote generally reserved for December. That’s a damning quote that makes you wonder if Baalke will last the entire season. And the translation is clear to anyone whose watched the 49ers this season: No quarterback, especially our pair of mediocre ones, can succeed in an offense without playmakers.
Of course, it’ll stir some memories seeing No. 7 sling the rock on the field Sunday against Buffalo. And as much as he likes him, Kelly has zero reasons to believe Kaepernick is going to come in a succeed. It’s exactly why the coach has been constantly warning the media this isn’t the 2013 version of the quarterback.
So instead, by bailing so early in the season on Baalke’s choice, Blaine Gabbert, Kelly has sent a message loud and clear to team owner Jed York: Baalke has no idea what he’s doing. The change is out of necessity, because our first choice is arguably the worst quarterback in the NFL.
We’re not privy to private meetings Kelly’s had with York, but we can go ahead and start hypothesizing where the head coach and owner stand. The 49ers simply cannot afford another offseason where Baalke is in control of player personnel. Gabbert is just one of a dozen examples where Baalke led the franchise closer and closer towards destruction.
Here’s the kicker of it all, and why many call Kelly a mastermind: Kelly knew all along a marriage with a GM who doesn’t value skill players was not going to work. So he sat there quietly while Baalke insisted on drafting more defensive linemen instead of pass rushers, more cornerbacks instead of wide receivers. Kelly sacrificed one offseason of roster debauchery in order to rid himself of Baalke. Because had the 49ers splashed in free agency for Marvin Jones and Josh Norman, the team could’ve been good enough to save Baalke’s job. Now? Baalke’s 49ers tombstone is already being etched.
There’s a reason Tuesday’s quarterback change has been anticipated since Kelly was hired in January. Kaepernick was the ace up Kelly’s sleeve all along. It was a domino that the reformed Kelly was going to present as a cry for help.
Humbled after his firing in Philadelphia, Kelly has wisely been slow playing his cards in San Francisco. He won over the locker room, he handled the Kaepernick’s protest with grace, he even let the Baalke charade play itself out long enough so he didn’t come off as the asshole.
How could anyone feel bad for Baalke? He aligned himself with Blaine Gabbert of all people. Aside from making mundane acquisitions to the practice squad, the 49ers GM might not make another major move on this roster.
Where they go after Baalke is anybody’s best guess. Assistant GM Tom Gamble makes a lot of sense, so does bringing in an entirely new set of eyes. York won’t be naive enough to give Kelly full control over the 53-man roster.
Whoever is making roster transactions in 2017, 49ers fans should be saying hallelujah. Chip Kelly’s Kaepernick card has painted Trent Baalke as a fool. Keeping him for another year now seems utterly impossible.
