The San Francisco 49ers will return to practice on Tuesday, but in the meantime, the coaching staff is gathering to continue preparations for the team. Head coach Chip Kelly said the team will meet on Monday to re-watch Sunday’s Bills-Rams game, and begin considering the game plan.
Kelly made his weekly Monday appearance on KNBR, and naturally he was asked who would be his starting quarterback this coming weekend. He would not confirm any of the three quarterbacks, but he also made sure to emphasize that he was leaving the door open for change at every position. He has specified that the offense as a whole is not performing well, and everything must be considered.
The hosts did ask him about the reports of a potential contract restructure for Colin Kaepernick, and whether or not Kelly had been told not to play Kaepernick given the injury guarantee stuff. Kelly repeatedly said he was not told to sit Kaepernick, and that it had not been implied or insinuated in any way. There was even an amusing pig latin joke mixed in.
At this point, you can take Kelly at his word, or just assume it’s a big conspiracy. I’m inclined to believe the former, but it’s not like this situation has not been incredibly odd.
It would seem obvious at this point that the team is considering a change at the quarterback position, but there are no guarantees it happens. Kelly was asked what he would tell fans he would expect from Gabbert if Gabbert remained the starter. Kelly pointed to inconsistency across the entire offense, which we’ve all seen. They’ve looked great for one or two drives each game, and looked bad the rest of the time. Kelly didn’t want the blame placed entirely on Gabbert, and continues spinning it as the broader problem.
At this point, I really have no idea who will be starting on Sunday against the Bills. If Kaepernick is not in the lineup then, do we see the team wait until the bye week? It’s a baffling situation.
Here is a transcript of Kelly’s comments from his KNBR interview.
Who will be your starting quarterback in Buffalo?
“Well, we’ll get together as a staff today and look at our game plan in terms of moving forward at what we’re going to do everywhere. As I said the day after the game in our press conference, you have to evaluate everything. And part of it is looking at what kind of game plan we’ll put together for the Bills, meet with our training staff, find out who’s available, then go from there.
On leaving door open for change:
“It’s fair to say we’re looking at every option we have to be a good football team. And I don’t think it’s different from any other position. Obviously that position gets the most notoriety but I think we have to look at everything right now.”
On contract restructure reports and if his not playing thus far is because of the injury guarantees:
“No. And I don’t get that part of it, because he played in our first game. So I’ve never been told not to play him, or he shouldn’t play. If I was told not to play him, then why did he play in the first game against the Rams, if I was concerned about his contract or him getting hurt.”
On if it has ever been an issue:
It’s never been an issue, no. I’ve never been told by anybody in this building who to play at any position. Anybody that was on our 53-man roster, or who’s been active for the 46-man roster is available to us on game day. And Colin played in the first game versus the Rams. So I don’t know where, people can speculate and say whatever they want, but if that was the case, then why did he play in game one?
On if it’s been insinuated:
Never been told, never been insinuated, implied. (joke about pig latin) ix-nay on the aepernick-kay has never come up. Never been smoke signals or morse code, or anything. They never once told me who to play, not to play, whatever. Again, my question is, if that was the case, then how come he played in game one, then?
On Kelly comments about Kaepernick not physically being back at 2013 form, and where he’s at now:
He’s been great at that. And again, there’s no weight limit he has to get to where he plays or doesn’t play. But the point was, where is he in his rehabilitation, and I answered that question, and then people ran with it and saying, ‘Well, if he doesn’t weigh 225 then he’s not gonna play.’ This isn’t Pop Warner. There is no weight limit in terms of him making. The point I’m trying to make is I think Colin has worked extremely hard at the rehab part of what he’s done. I think what people lose sight of is that Kap missed all of last season from when he got hurt and through the rehab process, because he had shoulder surgery, and thumb surgery, and knee surgery, that prevented him from working out the way he normally works out. Since he’s been cleared to go, when we got back here in August, he’s worked his tail off. I mean, he’s as hard a working guy as we have on our team, in terms of everything, and what he’s put into everything. So there is no, if he gets to a certain weight, he plays. It’s just pointing out, where I’m asked a question where is he in his rehab, he’s not back to where he was when he was leading this team to the Super Bowl. That’s my only point.
On what he would tell fans Gabbert needs to improve in Buffalo if he remains starting QB:
Well, I would like the entire offense to improve upon. We can’t turn the ball over, we turned it over twice on the offensive side of the ball and once on special teams. We need to be more consistent. We have a couple drives a game where we’ve been very successful. All of our scoring drives were 10+ scoring drives, and we’re clicking on all cylinders. We’re running the ball, we’re throwing and catching the ball well. We just have to work on being more consistent. And I think that’s overall. That’s not just the quarterback position, that’s every single person. Because you have to look at it as a whole. If it was just one person, it would be an easy deal. But it’s not just one person. It’s, are the receivers running the right routes? Is the offensive line in the right protection? Are we hitting the hole the right way? There are so many different factors that go into being successful on the offensive side of the ball, that people can look at one position and say, hey, let’s blame that person. But that’s not what we do, and that’s, I don’t think any coach does that. I think you look at the totality of what you’re trying to do on the offensive side of the ball. And all 11 guys contribute to your success, or all 11 guys contribute to your lack of success.
On playing Kaepernick in garbage time in game one:
Yea, my only point is that I have never been told not to put him in a game. If I was ever told to not put him in a game, that conspiracy theory should be done, because he’s been in a game. So, that’s the only reason I bring that up. If he hadn’t played a snap, then people could say, well, you’ve been told not to put him in a game. I’ve never been told, implied, or whatever word you want to use, on who to play or who not to play. And if i was told not to play him, then why did he play? That’s the only point I’m trying to make. Whether it’s garbage time or whatever, you’re still susceptible to injury.