The San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos have been discussing a Colin Kaepernick trade for some time now, but resolution is hard to figure out right now. It seems inevitable that Kaepernick ends up with the Broncos, but there are still issues to be resolved. There have been conflicting reports about an agreement on draft pick compensation, but all reports have been consistent that there has not been an agreement on a restructured contract. There were reports early on that Kaepernick and the Broncos were close on that portion, but lately it sounds like that is not the case.
Adam Schefter reported on Saturday that there was an agreement in principle between the teams, but Kaepernick still needed to restructure his contract. It seems likely that one or both teams put that information out there to put some pressure on Kaepernick and his agents. Ian Rapoport, Matt Barrows, and Mike Florio have all reported there is no agreement in principle on picks.
It is possible resolution of Kaepernick's contract could play further into potential draft pick compensation. If Kaepernick and the Broncos cannot agree on a deal, one option would be for the 49ers to pick up some portion of his 2016 salary. PFT discussed it in fairly general terms on Thursday. The 49ers could potentially turn part of his base salary into a signing bonus, which could potentially bump up the draft pick compensation the Broncos provide.
Matt Barrows reported on Saturday that the 49ers and Broncos were getting closer to a deal on compensation, but that discussion is on hold until the dollar figures are worked out. That could very well impact the draft pick(s) involved in any deal.
The 49ers have plenty of cap space right now, so taking another multi-million dollar hit would not be the end of the world. And it would probably finally tell us just how much they are prepared to move on from Kaepernick. For now, we wait to see what kind of contract gets worked out for Kaepernick with the Broncos. I think they get a deal done, but clearly John Elway is going to play some hard ball on this.