It's no secret that Colin Kaepernick has fallen over the last year since he replaced Alex Smith three years ago and took the team to the Super Bowl his first year and the NFC Championship Game his second before falling to 8-8 with a down year. He's tied for 18th in this Mike Sando QB rankings article (http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/2015-nfl-qb-tier-rankings/story?id=32652348). Kaepernick has shown flashes of brilliance as a playmaker, but has also shown inaccuaracy and immaturity. His quarterback rating and QBR has fallen steadily each of his three seasons and dropped from 14th in the rankings the previous year to tied for 18th this year in this article. He'll never be an elite or even a "franchise QB."
That does not mean however that there is not a place for Kaepernick in the NFL and there are some teams who could use Kaepernick and his mobility and strong arm more than the current starting QB(s) that they have. Cleveland definitely would and should get him over their bums in Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel. Houston definitely as well with that talented roster, he's much better than Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett.
Washington could because they need to move on from RGIII, I think Kaepernick is better. But Washington will be terrible and will likely be challenging for the first pick of the draft and will draft their next QB. The New York Jets are another team Kaepernick would a very good option for with that defense and bringing in Brandon Marshall. He is definitely much better than either Geno Smith or Ryan Fitzpatrick. Plus I wanted to see what Kaepernick could have done in Chan Gailey's offense when Gailey was here as I wanted them to draft Kaepernick.
I'm not advocating the Bills trade for Kaepernick (http://buffalosportsbeat.blogspot.com/2015/07/which-qb-would-you-trade-dareus-for.html) but I would definitely bring him in here for the right price. He's definitely better than E.J. Manuel, Matt Cassel, and Tyrod Taylor that's for sure. With this defense, he could hopefully do things like he did in San Francisco and take this team to the playoffs. I doubt they would bring him in and who knows how he and Greg Roman's relationship is after Roman got fired because Kaepernick regressed last season.
I do think the 49ers should trade him and get whatever they can while they can fetch a pretty good price. I know he's declining but there is always a market for a QB who's taken his team to the Super Bowl and NFC Championship Game back-to-back seasons who's still better than 40% of the starting QBs in the NFL. Why should the 49ers trade him if he's still a pretty decent QB? Kaepernick is decent but not an elite QB and they should try to look to get better at the game's most important position. You can do worse, but you can try and do a lot better as well. Plus Kaepernick makes a ton of money thanks to last year's contract.
Another reason why they should trade him is I believe the 49ers will be one of the worst teams in the NFL and will be challenging for the top pick in the draft. That's even with Kaepernick as starting QB. Why not move on from him while he still has value and completely bottom out for one of the top QBs in this year's draft such as Connor Cook, Christian Hackenberg, and Cardale Jones? If Kaepernick is still there and they go 4-12, his market value is all but shot. Now you can probably get a 3rd, maybe even a 2nd round pick for Kaepernick.
The 49ers are a mess with many of the players from their Super Bowl team in 2012 either leaving in free agency, traded, or flat out retired along with a QB that has regressed when he was the talk of the town after replacing an injured Alex Smith. The talent level might now be one of the worst in the league (certainly a lot worse than the team across the Golden Gate Bridge the Oakland Raiders) so they're in line for one of the top picks in the draft. They need to start over and should look for the franchise QB that can take this team to the Super Bowl. I think it's best to start over and give Kaepernick a change of scenery. If this team was built to win now then of course keep Kaepernick. But it's not and try something else.
Of course there's this thing where Jim Harbaugh was fired because of an idiot GM in Trent Baalke that can't work with him. Harbaugh is an ass and a weirdo but he's won. Deal with it. He might be hard to work with and can wear people out but remember how terrible you guys were for a decade before he came here. They replaced a great coach with this guy Jim Tomsula.
In case you don't know who he is watch these two videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1MQJ0JKIxQ) (http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/new-49ers-head-coach-gets-a-little-grunty-in-his-first-interview-231453338.html?pt=tAD4SCT8P72012-08-02.html/). Doesn't this guy inspire you? Baalke should have been fired for thinking he should have fired Harbaugh especially knowing you are hiring this guy to replace him. What a difference between his and Rex Ryan's press conferences.
Apparently he doesn't want to "play the name game." Why? The name game is fun! Also his thing where he says he doesn't (or doesn't he say doesn't) want to say names out of "respect to those people." What are these people dead? What the heck does he mean by that? You don't say out of respect for (fill in name) unless it's a tragedy and coaching changes aren't a tragedy. It's not like he can't say a certain name because that guy is under contract. The interviewer was asking about Marc Trestman, who was fired by the Bears right after the season and wasn't under contract so he could mention him.
More bad PR as the 49ers continue to fail in this department when owner Jed York somewhat compared Tomsula to Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr (http://jimrome.com/2015/07/22/the-next-steve-kerr/). He did make it a point to point out how the fellow NBA Bay Area team fired a good coach in it's own right in Mark Jackson,who helped bring the Warriors back to the promised land if you will by taking a team that was a joke for over two decades to making the playoffs in back to back years, to replace him with a coach who wasn't a head coach ever.
Fans must have been furious firing a head coach who's taken their team to places they haven't been in 25 years or so, but management to their credit felt they could have done better. I guess winning a league-high 67 games and winning the first NBA title for the team in 40 years is a little better. I guess Harbaugh is being compared to Jackson and Tomsula is being compared to Kerr. That's wrong in so many ways and I don't have to explain them, you know them. Harbaugh did turn around the 49ers quickly like Jackson did with the Warriors, but Harbaugh did more and went further in the postseason than Jackson did.
Kerr won numerous NBA championships as a player, playing and learning from the best coach in NBA history in Phil Jackson. Tomsula was coaching in no name colleges and NFL Europe. Kerr was a GM for three years with the Phoenix Suns as well as spent numerous years as a TV analyst for NBA games. Tomsula could barely analyze a Burger King menu and he never did anything but be a defensive line coach, not a coordinator not an assistant head coach.
Oh I am sorry, he was an interim head coach for the 49ers for the last game of the 2010 season when he replaced the fired Mike Singletary (remember how terrible he was?) and then was kept on as defensive line coach by Harbaugh. Kerr also has the two best shooters in the NBA while Tomsula lost a ton of talent. Close York but no cigar!
I don't know why but I would bet money that Tomsula is punt on 4th down, play field position coach. Call me crazy it's just a silly hunch. Enjoy San Francisco, this is who you have leading your team right now. I bet you miss Harbaugh badly and the season hasn't even started.
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