The San Francisco 49ers are back at practice, and they have their starting quarterback in place. Offensive coordinator Curtis Modkins announced at his Tuesday press conference that Colin Kaepernick will be starting on Sunday against the New York Jets.
Kaepernick was benched in the fourth quarter of the team’s Week 13 loss to the Chicago Bears. After the game, head coach Chip Kelly said he was hoping to get some kind of spark going. There was some talk about Kaepernick having issues with his grip, and the ball not coming out well. Either way, he only had 12 drop-backs on the day, and it was kind of a mess. Blaine Gabbert came on in the fourth quarter and got a significant amount of work, but nothing came of it.
And for those wondering, Modkins said there was no discussion of Christian Ponder starting this week. When asked if Ponder will once again be inactive, Modkins did not have an answer. It might be leaving it open, it might just be not having an answer yet from Chip Kelly.