The San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos closed out last night reportedly negotiating a deal that would move quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the Super Bowl champs. Mike Silver reported that he thinks the two sides "are there" when it comes to compensation, and said the negotiation had moved on to the Broncos and Kaepernick's people working on a contract restructure. He followed that up by tweeting there's no deal yet, the Browns are still in it, and it was a fluid situation.
On Friday morning, we have a couple new pieces of speculation coming out in the media. Adam Schefter reported on SportsCenter that Kaepernick would like to play with the Browns and work with new head coach Hue Jackson. Prior to that, former NFL player and current media member Ross Tucker seems to think the Broncos might be negotiating against themselves.
League source texted me that he thinks Broncos negotiating against themselves for Kap. Makes sense b/c I highly doubt CLE & NYJ interested.
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) March 11, 2016
This comes a day after multiple reports the Browns and Jets were interested. Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot confirmed the Browns interest. I am less inclined to think the 49ers are using her to build leverage given her report of Browns denial a couple weeks ago.
This report of Kaepernick's interest in the Browns adds a little something to the mix. It is possible Kaepernick's camp is now leveraging the Broncos to get a deal done. Or Kaepernick could really want to work with Hue Jackson. When Jackson was head coach of the Oakland Raiders, he acknowledged wanting to move up and get Kaepernick. We have not heard much since, but it is possible he is still a big fan and would want to work with him.
For now, the discussions wrangle on and we sit and wait to see what will come of all this. I still think he ends up in Denver, but Cleveland certainly makes some measure of sense.