Chip Kelly, It's Time To Bring Back Colin Kaepernick
The current political climate may lead some to disagree with me wholeheartedly, but as a fan of football, and fantasy football, I have a simple request for 49ers coach Chip Kelly.
Please give Colin Kaepernick back to fantasy owners!
If anything in the world can unite us all, its this concept : Blaine Gabbert is a terrible quarterback. Gabbert has never thrown more than 12 touchdown passes in a season, averaged more than 7.2 yards per attempt, or had a record above .500. He stinks, and even worse, he’s boring to watch.
Kaepernick, on the other hand, is never boring to watch. He may stink, but let me make the case.
As a passer, the best we’ve seen of Kaepernick came in 2013, when he totaled 3,197 yards (199.8 per game), and threw 21 touchdown passes against eight interceptions. He completed 58.4 percent of his passes and led a very good offense to the postseason. The following season, he upped his completion percentage north of 60, set a career high for yards (3,369) and tossed 19 touchdowns. Once upon a time, this guy could wing it. He didn’t make Niners fans forget about Joe Montana or Steve Young, but he was above average.
And he could RUN. This is the main thrust of why, as fantasy owners, we need to clamor for Kaep’s return. In 2013 and 2014 Kaepernick averaged 6.1 rushing attempts and 36.3 yards per game. He found the end zone five times in that span, and even ripped off a 90 yard run. With that kind of usage on the ground, you lived with his relatively subpar yardage totals in the passing game.
Sure, he doesn’t have QB-whisperer John Harbaugh around anymore to help him, but his dumpster fire 2015 season coincided with Jim Tomsula taking over as head coach. Tomsula has famously held the following jobs: night janitor, firewood cutter, doormat salesman. There’s more. He seemed like a nice, hardworking man, but not someone who would bring the best out of Kaepernick, who is an unusual weapon most coaches don’t possess. He is deadly, but tricky to deploy.
You know who could deploy him? Chip Kelly. You know, the guy who planned on taking over the NFL in his first year with Michael Vick at the helm. Or the guy who engineered iconic college offenses with Marcus Mariota. Look at this stuff!
Kelly is well known to ride vicious running games to untold points. It’s how he keeps his uptempo offense going; Kelly keeps the options simple, using a strong running game. Mobile quarterbacks add incredible unpredictability to offenses that want to lean on the running game; all you have to do is look at how Alfred Morris used to fare during RG3’s rookie season, or how the Falcons’ rushers’ numbers leapt with Vick changing football forever.
Kaepernick isn’t just a good runner. He’s got world-class speed, and the size and strength to withstand some punishment. No he’s not Cam Newton, but he’s not brittle like RG3 either.
Look, the 49ers aren’t going to be good whether they play Kaepernick or Gabbert. Kaepernick is not some magic carpet Chip Kelly can fly to a postseason berth. But Gabbert has about as little upside as an NFL QB can possibly have at this point. If you’re going to lose games, lose them with some dignity. Try your best to have one of football’s more unique players thrive in a system that is well-suited to his skill set. At the very least Kelly will build allies in the fantasy community for providing us all with another option at QB.