It's easy to get swayed by the mass majority in what the locker room or league says in regards to a particular subject. Take Colin Kaepernick for instance: word was out he was on an island, very introverted, not a good leader, etc. At this point, those accusations seemed to stick the more playing time Blaine Gabbert received.
Enter: Bruce Miller.
The 49ers fullback was a guest with Vic Carucci and Dan Leberfeld on SirusXM NFL radio and in two minutes was able to give a different view point of a few good questions.
The first good question was his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick:
"I'm just a big fan of both of those guys [Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert] and hoping that they are both back with us. Fantastic football players, so what they can bring to our team is going to be big for us. He's a great leader in the locker room and I just hope he's around for as long as I'm there for sure."
Obviously, Miller could just be speaking to avoid any controversy especially with Kaepernick on the roster, but when players have had a harder time trying to stick up for Kaepernick in recent weeks, especially when they aren't winning, it's interesting to see a different take on what has been considered true.
The other interesting comment was what he said regarding chop blocks. in case you didn't know, chop blocks have been banned. This has been largely seen as a good thing across the league (and I've seen comments from here referencing Ian Williams' injury at the hands of a chop block).
"I don't know, I'm still investigating this 'no chop block' rule. That's a huge part of my game, especially as much as I block in the open field. Some of those guys are almost impossible to block without getting into the body and getting at the legs. I'm still investigating whether this is offensive linemen in the box or if it's all chop blocks or cut blocks period.
Miller brings an interesting neutral perspective to chop blocks. If you asked an offensive lineman, I bet they'd make an argument to keep chop blocks and defensive players will argue why it's great chop blocks are banned. Miller has not only played on both sides of the ball (he was a defensive lineman in college), he also, as he said, plays in the open field where the blocking technique is a bit different than the line.
How both Kaepernick and these new rule changes (Miller went on to comment on the new ejection rule) pan out is definitely something to keep an eye on. It's just interesting to see someone go against the grain.