Ummm, ok? The San Francisco 49ers announced on Saturday that quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been placed on injured reserve. The team has promoted quarterback Dylan Thompson to the 53-man roster. Thompson will be Blaine Gabbert's backup this weekend against the Seattle Seahawks.
The 49ers listed Kaepernick with a left shoulder injury this week, which sort of came out of nowhere. The team has not addressed when the injury happened, but it is safe to say Jim Tomsula will get a question about it after Sunday's game against the Seahawks.
This gets interesting because of guarantees on Kaepernick's salary. His 2016 base salary was guaranteed for injury, but not for skill or cap. His 2016 base salary becomes fully guaranteed on April 1. I would assume Kaepernick's shoulder injury will be plenty fine by that point, and he will be traded or released before then. By placing Kap on injured reserve, they avoid any other potential injuries if they were forced to use him in a game due to a Gabbert injury.
Suffice to say, we have seen the last of Kap on the 49ers 53-man roster. He will be traded or released before April 1, 2016.