Sunday evening, Tim Kawakami reported what had been speculated for some time: Colin Kaepernick was planning on showing up for day one of the San Francisco 49ers offseason workout program. Kaepernick has been rehabbing his various injuries in Vail, Colorado, so I tweeted that someone at Denver Airport needed to tweet out an update.
Someone came through! Albeit not directly to me. Ekram Ahmed got this picture in Colorado on Snapchat, and learned from Kaepernick that he was indeed headed to the Bay Area Sunday evening.
Colin Kaepernick is currently flying from Denver to SF, per @ekrahm pic.twitter.com/lfDqBZRZok
— Shad (@rashadalaiyan) April 4, 2016
The 49ers open their workout program on Monday, and he will be on hand with a sizable chunk of the rest of his teammates. I say sizable chunk because it is a voluntary program, so some veterans will stay home. Kaepernick has a $400,000 workout bonus, so it makes sense for him to show up for the program even amidst the current trade rumors.
Kaepernick is reportedly still rehabbing some of his various injuries, most notably the shoulder injury. The first two weeks of the offseason workout program are strength and conditioning work, and Kaepernick will likely focus on his rehab during that time. The big thing is that he gets time to interact with Chip Kelly and start to really go through the playbook.
I still think a trade happens, but maybe getting those two together could actually settle things down. Kaepernick and his team might have zero trust for Trent Baalke and Jed York, but if he and Chip Kelly think they can make something work, who knows how it will turn out. Of course, now watch him get traded later today.