San Francisco 49ers: Quarterback Competition Wide Open

The San Francisco 49ers have a legit quarterback controversy and an open competition. Kaepernick and Gabbert find themselves on equal ground despite their opposite histories in the league.

Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream, and debate sports.

TODD:

The San Francisco 49ers have a new regime in place for the 2016 NFL season. They brought in Chip Kelly to run their team and their offense. The biggest decision Kelly will have to make for Week 1 is who to start at quarterback.

Colin Kaepernick was the dude for a good stretch of his career. He was so good, he looked like the future of the league with his scrambling legs and rifle arm. Last year, those legs ran him nowhere and his rifle repeatedly misfired. He had zero accuracy passing the football and was benched in favor of former draft bust Blaine Gabbert.

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Gabbert was not terrible in his chance, which is not the most flattering of compliments, but it was as good as Gabbert could have hoped for. Now, he has a legitimate chance at being the starting quarterback for San Francisco again this season…which is just insane.

Maybe you won’t put up any argument in this one at all, but I can’t fathom why the 49ers would turn this team over to Gabbert for the long haul and leave Kaepernick in the lurch. Everyone admits this team isn’t going to be very good this year, right? The wide receiving corps is very poor. The offensive line is a shell of what it used to be. Even the defense is hardly recognizable from the units that dominated the league not too long ago.

We all know what Gabbert’s ceiling presumably is. It’s that of an okay, mediocre quarterback. We also know what Kaep’s ceiling is: arguably the most fearsome quarterback in the sport capable of shifting entire playoff games with his arm and legs alone. So why not give the latter the reins of a bad football team and see if he can turn things around?

Yet it’s not just a straw man argument to say this is a position battle and Gabbert has a chance at the job. Many folks felt Kaepernick shouldn’t even remain on the roster and should be released or traded; just jettisoning what they deemed to be a failed product. Maybe I have this backwards and there is no battle at all. Maybe the job is clearly Gabbert’s to lose.

Currently, there is no battle going on because Kaepernick has not been medically cleared to return to the field quite yet. CSN’s Matt Maiocco said Kaep was throwing passes at practice last week but is not cleared to resume full activities. Whenever that happens, I assume he will be thrown into the heat of this prototypical QB conundrum. But who knows with Kelly. As I said, maybe the starter has already been decided. If it was me, I would want that decision to go in favor of the guy with the brightest possible future.

Jan 3, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert (2) runs the ball against the St. Louis Rams in the third quarter at Levi /

DAN:

Its amazing how consistent both Gabbert and Kaepernick have been statistically throughout their careers. Neither deviated from the numbers much last season, yet two completely different narratives follow each quarterback. Gabbert got slapped with the ‘bust’ moniker after less than two full seasons as the Jaguars’ quarterback. Kaepernick got slapped with the ‘savior’ moniker after one and a half seasons with San Francisco, leading them to Super Bowl XLVII.

Despite the polar opposite ways in which both quarterbacks found themselves in this competition, it would be foolhardy to make a decision based upon it. Neither has played great football of late. Neither has played for coach Chip Kelly and his offense. This is the closest thing to an open quarterback competition we’ve seen in awhile.

If I was a 49ers fan I would desperately want Kaepernick to win the starting job. He has a much higher upside based upon past performance. But if he loses to Gabbert in training camp, then so be it. Kaep is no longer the better player. Or perhaps Gabbert is no longer the worse player. Just because Gabbert started his career with a bad team and put up numbers that make sense because of it, why should we assume he can’t be good on a different team?

Here are two sets of stat lines from last season. Guess who is who?

Player A: 282 attempts, 63% completion, 2031 yds, 10 TDs, 7 INTs, 185 yds rushing
Player B: 244 attempts, 59% completion, 1615 yds, 6 TDs, 5 INTs, 256 yds rushing

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This was basically a trick question, because the rushing yards give it away. But despite his past struggles, Gabbert got his completion percentage way up last year and significantly higher than Kaep. Nothing about last season makes this competition any less open. The only thing that truly garners attention is Kaepernick’s trade value. He still has some, while Gabbert does not. The 49ers don’t have to be a bad football team this season, but fans must root for Kaep to regain some mojo. Rooting for a game manager to limit his mistakes is only fun when you’re winning a lot.