At least two prominent NFL reporters believe the San Francisco 49ers could pull a RG3 on quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who could be protected in 2016 so the 49ers can save millions against injuries guarantees next offseason.
Albert Breer of MMQB became the latest national reporter to weigh in on Kaepernick Thursday morning.
“Colin Kaepernick’s injury history, combined with the heavy injury guarantees in his contract, would be a motivator to put him on ice for the year if the team isn’t sold he’ll rebound in Chip Kelly’s offense,” Breer wrote. “The Redskins pulled something similar last year—they knew Robert Griffin III wasn’t their guy, so they didn’t risk putting him on the field and triggering his 2016 injury guarantee.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk openly wondered the same idea on Monday.
“Absent a trade or a willingness to pay Kaepernick a lot of money to go away, the 49ers have the RGIII option at their disposal,” Florio said. “That would entail putting Kaepernick on the bench and keeping him in bubble wrap so that, come 2017, they won’t be strapped with a fully-guaranteed $14.5 million obligation that can’t be avoided before April 1 if he’s injured, again.”
Unless Chip Kelly fully believes in Kaepernick moving forward (and that’s a debatable premise, given his current standing in a starting battle with Blaine Gabbert, of all quarterbacks), the 49ers could protect themselves by shelving the former second-round pick as a third-stringer and then cutting Kaepernick before his $14.5 million becomes fully guaranteed on April 1st of 2017. Of course, if he’s injured at that time, the 49ers won’t have the option.
The Redskins played the same card on RG3 last season. After he suffered a concussion during the preseason, Washington all but shut down his season—stashing him behind Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy to protect him from another injury. His healthy season allowed the Redskins to part ways without the financial repercussions of his fifth-year, injury-guaranteed salary kicking in.
A tricky balancing act awaits the 49ers over the next few weeks. Kaepernick has been out while dealing with a “dead arm” issue, which has robbed Kelly and his staff of valuable time in the evaluation process. At some point soon, the 49ers will need to decide if Kaepernick is worth risking during the 2016 season. Then again, the franchise has 14,500,000 million reasons to stash him on the bench and set up a clean divorce next offseason.