The San Francisco 49ers are dealing with a quarterback conundrum that has been exacerbated by Colin Kaepernick’s arm woes. Adam Schefter said sources described it as a dead arm, but on Wednesday, general manager Trent Baalke said it was tired, not dead.
Baalke is in Denver for the joint practices, and he chatted with media after practice on Wednesday. Baalke said Kaepernick threw a little today (on the side, not in team drills), and the hope is he can do a little more tomorrow. Matt Barrows said the inference from Baalke’s comments is that Kaepernick will not play on Saturday.
There is such a thing as “dead arm syndrome,” but Matt Maiocco reported earlier in the week that it did not seem like that was the case with Kaepernick. It is entirely possible we are dealing with a semantics debate since dead arm is a term that can get thrown around in sports. It’s one reason coaches are quick to state they are not doctors when they are discussing medical issues.
If Kaepernick is unable to play on Saturday, that would leave him two preseason games to potentially get on the field. And one is the fourth game, which seems more difficult to use for evaluation purposes. That being said, if Gabbert does not improve upon his Sunday performance, it could still get interesting before camp is done.
As I was finishing this up, the beat writers posted another interesting comment from Baalke. I don’t think it matters much, but it’s worth noting:
TB: "Colin & I have sat down. We sat down a couple of weeks ago. Colin is here to compete. All this stuff from the offseason is behind us."
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoCSN) August 17, 2016
Baalke said he had a sit-down with Kaepernick --- their first of 2016 -- recently. "We had a good conversation," he said.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) August 17, 2016