Is Colin Kaepernick ready?

[clyde_carbon]

Two things:

1) I'd imagine that the playbook may be substantially bulked up this offseason, now that we've got several months to install it.

2) What exactly do you think a backup QB does at practice? Gets water for the starters?

That's a good point, but preseason isn't until August. Is there any reason to a believe that Kap won't have fully absorbed it by then?

Honestly, I don't know. I can't imagine the backup QB taking more than 10% of the real practice reps from the #1 QB.

 

[clyde_carbon]

that's a lot of ifs

Where are the ifs?

You don't think Kap can manage 195 yards and 1 TD per game?

 

[Flyingiguana]

Where are the ifs?

You don't think Kap can manage 195 yards and 1 TD per game?

maybe he can, maybe he can't. maybe he averages more but has twice as many ints as tds. maybe he fumbles the ball a few extra times negating his running ability.

at this point going with kap carries a lot of risk and not a lot of reward. if smith stunk it up in the playoffs it might be worth a look, but come on. it may not have been pretty in the giants game but given field conditions, smith did make enough plays to vernon to win that game.

 

[kennyt12]

We were great last year, so we stick with the winning formula and try to improve upon it.

What if Kap is the answer to improving our winning formula? We won't know if he never gets a shot because Alex Smith is preventing it from happening.

 

[Flyingiguana]

What if Kap is the answer to improving our winning formula? We won't know if he never gets a shot because Alex Smith is preventing it from happening.

what if we find out he's a bust? risk/reward

 

[kennyt12]

If it wasn't for the lockout I would've been for starting CK this past season.

The problem is (and what a good problem to have) is we were 13-3 and very close to getting a shot at the Super Bowl so it's a tough sell to your team and fans to say "We're not going all in this season but we're going to take a hit for the sake of 2013 and beyond".

If we missed the playoffs and had an average season I would be all in for CK this seaon but now I'm more inclined to see how training camp plays out and make a call than. I expect both QBs to be better but the question is how much better are they going to be.

Yes CK will progress faster being in there but getting a full offseason work and another year absorbing the playbook isn't exactly going to hurt him either.

I'm all for making the switch now if it means success in the future. I'll take one more 8-8 season followed by 5-7 years of making playoff and superbowl runs.

No matter what happens I trust Jim Harbaugh to do the right thing!

 

[clyde_carbon]

maybe he can, maybe he can't. maybe he averages more but has twice as many ints as tds. maybe he fumbles the ball a few extra times negating his running ability.

at this point going with kap carries a lot of risk and not a lot of reward. if smith stunk it up in the playoffs it might be worth a look, but come on. it may not have been pretty in the giants game but given field conditions, smith did make enough plays to vernon to win that game.

If he can't average 195 yards and 1 TD per game in his second season on this team with Harbaugh/Roman coaching then he can't play in this league, and I'll be glad we found out sooner rather than later.

Using the same logic, what if he completely dominates? What if he would blow Smith out of the water, but he's sitting on the bench?

 

[clyde_carbon]

what if we find out he's a bust? risk/reward

What if we find out he's a star? That's one extra year he'll be the QB.

 

[Flyingiguana]

If he can't average 195 yards and 1 TD per game in his second season on this team with Harbaugh/Roman coaching then he can't play in this league, and I'll be glad we found out sooner rather than later.

Using the same logic, what if he completely dominates? What if he would blow Smith out of the water, but he's sitting on the bench?

i don't like these what if questions, especially on a team that finally got back to the nfc championship game and outplayed the team that won the super bowl.

build upon the season, the first in many where we actually have some stability. u want to blow it up just because some 2nd round pick might play better. if he doesn't, o well. sounds like a great way to get coaches/gm's fired.

 

[kennyt12]

what if we find out he's a bust? risk/reward

I guess we'd have our answer to the question; Do we have a franchise QB? Better to find out now and move forward than to hope and pray he is one without ever seeing him play. We had a great year with Alex Smith but is he a franchise QB? If Harbaugh thinks he is then great, lets move forward with Smith. Otherwise we need to be looking for one.

 

[Flyingiguana]

I guess we'd have our answer to the question; Do we have a franchise QB? Better to find out now and move forward than to hope and pray he is one without ever seeing him play. We had a great year with Alex Smith but is he a franchise QB? If Harbaugh thinks he is then great, lets move forward with Smith. Otherwise we need to be looking for one.

that's what we need to figure out. is smith our franchise qb? we can find out next season if he can take those next steps. then we can let kap develop without the pressure of starting for a super bowl contender.

 

[imac_21]

Yes I left Gabbert and Ponder off that list, because they had 65 and 70 QB ratings respectively.

Yet you included Locker who only threw 66 passes? That seems disingenuous.

 

[RedneckNiner]

What If the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on? What If they had Binoculars on the Titanic? What if Joe Montana Han't got hurt in the NFC Championship Game against the Giants? What If Roger Craig doesn't fumble in aforementioned game?

 

[numone9er]

What if we find out he's a star? That's one extra year he'll be the QB.

I know what you're saying, because you have been on the "lets start Kaepernick" band wagon for quite some time now, but can he protect the football and limit turnovers? I know you credit the coaching staff with the TO ratio, but i still don't think Kaepernick is capable of protecting the football like Alex did this past year.

 

[RhojiF]

Rodgers benefited from learning/watching from one of the best who had ever done it.

You want Kaep to sit learn from Smith? Really?

Rodgers benefited from learning/watching from one of the most mediocre quarterbacks that happened to stay healthy for so long, which a lot of QB's have not done.

 

[Jikkle]

I'm all for making the switch now if it means success in the future. I'll take one more 8-8 season followed by 5-7 years of making playoff and superbowl runs.

No matter what happens I trust Jim Harbaugh to do the right thing!

Harbaugh's very nature is to win now which is why he'll be handing the starting reigns to Smith again.

Even though I'm also a guy that would rather take the hit now for the sake of the future it's still hard for me to go CK because I don't see any reason why we can't make a Super Bowl run this upcoming season just like we did last season. I don't think you can argue the offense won't be better even if Smith is behind center is there is nothing to suggest our defense will be on the decline either.

I still think CK hasn't hit his limit on what he could learn from the bench especially since he didn't get a full offseason last year so I don't think it'll be wasteful for him to sit one more season.

I fully expect him to be starting QB in 2013 sans a big boost in performance from Alex Smith this season.

 

[BallsOfFury]

In a physical standpoint I'm going out on a lamb

:hdn:

 

[Crimsoncrew]

That's a good point, but preseason isn't until August. Is there any reason to a believe that Kap won't have fully absorbed it by then?

Honestly, I don't know. I can't imagine the backup QB taking more than 10% of the real practice reps from the #1 QB.

Re: practices, I've only ever been to training camp. In TC, they basically split the drill reps evenly, but the starting unit gets the majority of the reps in seven-on-sevens or full-squad practices. However, my understanding is that in the regular season the first team rarely, if ever, practices against itself. The second team plays against the first team during the season. So Kaepernick should be getting pretty substantial experience against a very good NFL defense.

The possible drawback is that he might be doing more of a scout team role, in which case he wouldn't be running our offense.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

What if Kap is the answer to improving our winning formula? We won't know if he never gets a shot because Alex Smith is preventing it from happening.

I'm not against something closer to a QB competition this year in TC. If Kaepernick is looking great in practice and the preseason, give him a chance. But I think he would have to be clearly outplaying Smith to take the reins at this point.

 

[clyde_carbon]

i don't like these what if questions, especially on a team that finally got back to the nfc championship game and outplayed the team that won the super bowl.

build upon the season, the first in many where we actually have some stability. u want to blow it up just because some 2nd round pick might play better. if he doesn't, o well. sounds like a great way to get coaches/gm's fired.

Using that logic we shouldn't look to upgrade any position. Why should we draft a WR in the first round? There's too many ifs with that, right?