The March 31 waiver deadline passed, and Colin Kaepernick remains on the San Francisco 49ers roster. The 1 p.m. PT deadline passing means his 2016 base salary is now fully guaranteed. He is due $11.9 million for the coming season, along with $2 million in roster bonuses, and $400,000 in a workout bonus.
This does not really change anything too much. Kaepernick's people have indicated he plans on showing up when the 49ers offseason workout program begins on Monday. His $400,000 workout bonus is tied to participation in the offseason program, and why give that up? Furthermore, he knows the 49ers control his destiny to a certain extent so if he is going to end up competing with Blaine Gabbert, it would be foolish to stay away.
This also does not mean he will not be traded. Although his salary is now fully guaranteed, he can still re-negotiate it to make a trade happen with the Denver Broncos. Mike Klis has reported there might be issues getting Kaepernick to take a pay-cut, but it is my understanding that that rumor is without merit. I believe that is one of the teams putting that out there to cover for not making a deal yet. They can say, well, we want to do a deal, but Kaepernick is holding it up. Don't believe that.
And so, we now wait to see what happens. I think a trade ends up getting done by the time the 2016 NFL Draft has come to a close. The 49ers are starting their offseason workout program on Monday because they have a new coach. The Broncos and Jets (if they end up back in the mix) don't get started until late in the month, and so Kaepernick wouldn't even be able to get in with the football coaches until then. This deadline today is not meaningless, but it is not as important as I think some of us (including myself) initially thought it might be heading into the offseason.
For now, I wrap up my Hawaiian vacation and will be headed back to the mainland later tonight. I think if I had gone to Las Vegas, a deal could have gotten done!