A Chicago Bears Colin Kaepernick alliance next season? Sounds pretty crazy at first thought. Here is a former second round draft pick who rose to stardom in 2012 for the San Francisco 49ers. Then, almost like a streaking comet across the night sky, he disappeared. Since then he's hovered in and out of the starting lineup for the San Francisco 49ers.
It's never a good sign when one has to fight for playing time and can't beat out Blaine Gabbert. Nonetheless his past accomplishments remain a topic of furious discussion. He came one play away from winning a Super Bowl and is still pretty young for a quarterback. Why can't it be possible for him to regain that old form in the right situation?
Expectations are he will opt out of his current contract with the 49ers this spring and seek an opportunity elsewhere. Speculation has already begun about where he might end up. There are plenty of teams that need a quarterback, but two respected analysts think they know the best place for him.
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, two prominent experts and insiders for NFL Network, discussed Kaepernick on the "Move The Sticks" podcast back on January 5th. Jeremiah was surprised that the 29-year old hasn't gotten more attention as a pending free agent quarterback.
Here's a guy who helped San Francisco to two NFC championship games and a Super Bowl appearance. If he opts out of his current contract as expected, he'll probably be had for cheap. Also he actually had a decent statistical season with 2, 241 yards, 16 touchdown passes and just four interceptions in 12 games. This despite playing with a terrible roster around him.
[video width="854" height="480" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Colin-Kaepernick-Leads-the-49ers-to-Victory-NFL-Week-16-Player-Highlights.mp4"][/video]
Jeremiah got to thinking about possible places he could land, and offered the one that intrigued him the most to Brooks.
"What if he went to Chicago? Where they've invested in the offensive line. You get Kyle Long back. They've got some other good, young players in there. Cody Whitehair played really well this year. You've got a big back who rushed for 1300 yards this year in Jordan Howard. You've got some pretty good pieces on defense with a defensive coach. You've got a top five pick which you can get a stud to throw in that mix on the defensive side. I know, actually I kind of like that fit."Bucky Brooks is actually an interesting man to ask this question. Why? Before becoming an expert draft analyst for NFL.com, he was a regional college scout. He served in that capacity from 2003 to 2007 with the Carolina Panthers, at the same time Fox was the head coach. The two know each other well. That's why his answer to this idea is fascinating.
"It's funny that you say that because that is one thing that has always intrigued Coach Fox. During my time at Carolina we were always forced to have to play against a guy like Michael Vick down in Atlanta. A guy who was athlete, who gave you problems off the script, who could make plays with his legs but also had a big arm. And it's going to sound crazy now, but we spent an entire day at one point in draft meetings look at Matt Jones. You remember Matt Jones came out of Arkansas? We looked at Matt Jones for an entire day because Coach Fox was fascinated by having an athletic playmaker at his disposal. It's one of the things that he hasn't had really with the exception of his time with Tim Tebow. If you think about the success they had in Denver with Tim Tebow playing the style that Foxy likes to play; run it more often, throw it on occasion and really lean on your defense? Kaepernick would give them that ability to have that kind of quarterback that can manage the turnovers and play that way."To listen to the discussion in its entirety, here is the audio clip from the podcast. [audio mp3="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/170105_MTS_Audio001332.500-001749.501.mp3"][/audio] Indeed with all the talk of guys like Tony Romo and Tyrod Taylor, it's easy to overlook the fact that Kaepernick is another productive veteran quarterback who might be available soon. The thing to remember is Ryan Pace is always in favor of reasonable free agent purchases that may still have considerable upside.
