What's the Niners' Plan for Preserving Kaep's Health?

[Robotech]

When reading other fans' takes on Kaep, many say that it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt. I know many of them are just jealous, but I do worry about it. When we're in the pistol, I can see teams just hitting him without caring if he has the ball or not. I thought I saw the Ravens do that a couple times. I actually think that he does a pretty good job protecting himself when runs (e.g., he gets down or runs out of bounds), but still I worry. The good thing is that he is awesome at passing, too, so the Niners don't need to run him that much, IMO. Just having the threat of him running may be enough to take advantage of that part of his game.

Please tell me that I'm just worrying too much about this.

 

[NinerSickness]

Save most of his running for the playoffs. Slide EVERY time in the regular season; don't call very many runs.

 

[Robotech]

Save most of his running for the playoffs. Slide EVERY time in the regular season; don't call very many runs.

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines. The Niners have to pick their spots with Kaep's runs. Use it sparingly and bring it out when needed in the big games.

 

[tallglassofwater007]

Groom him in the mold of Steve Young. Make him a pocket passer who can beat you with his legs when the time comes. Have only a few designed runs for him. Like an Aaron Rodgers but with home run ability.

 

[NinerSickness]

If Kaep had a #1 deep-threat WR like Mike Wallace, he wouldn't need to run in the regular season. There would be no way to cover Wallace, Crabby & Vernon at the same time while keeping the primary focus on the running game. It simply wouldn't be fair to opposing defenses. ESPECIALLY if the Niners upgraded the C spot, which wouldn't be extremely hard to do.

And you know the Niners agree with me because they wanted Wallace last offseason.

 

[Robotech]

If Kaep had a #1 deep-threat WR like Mike Wallace, he wouldn't need to run in the regular season. There would be no way to cover Wallace, Crabby & Vernon at the same time while keeping the primary focus on the running game. It simply wouldn't be fair to opposing defenses. ESPECIALLY if the Niners upgraded the C spot, which wouldn't be extremely hard to do.

And you know the Niners agree with me because they wanted Wallace last offseason.

You're constant campaigning for Wallace is starting to get me convinced we need this guy. I never thought a former 60 Minutes news man would be the Niners' answer, but now I see it. OK, lame joke, I know.

 

[NinerSickness]

You're constant campaigning for Wallace is starting to get me convinced we need this guy. I never thought a former 60 Minutes news man would be the Niners' answer, but now I see it. OK, lame joke, I know.

HA! I made the same joke a few time back when he was alive.

Someone posted here that Mike Wallace died, and I was one of the few to not get fooled by that one.

 

[Bemular]

One word: Intelligence.

Intelligence is the only thing that will keep Kap from serious injury. Roman has to be intelligent on how he uses Kap, and Kap needs to be intelligent on how he uses himself.

Stay one step ahead of the defenses that will eventually learn how to shut down the RO and don't try and be a hero. Pretty simple actually.

 

[MHSL82]

One word: Intelligence.

Intelligence is the only thing that will keep Kap from serious injury. Roman has to be intelligent on how he uses Kap, and Kap needs to be intelligent on how he uses himself.

Stay one step ahead of the defenses that will eventually learn how to shut down the RO and don't try and be a hero. Pretty simple actually.

One thing I said during SB week was that Kaep has enough confidence in himself, in the system, and in his teammates to believe he can get those risky yards later by just executing the offense. He understands that and while I think Alex does too, he didn't in the play that he got hit by Dunbar in the Rams game. If he had just slid correctly, he'd lose a yard but not get hit (down at start of slide). Sometimes, these injuries occur when you are trying to get every yard you can, when in the grand scheme of things, those yards were not that important, moving the chains is, sometime before 4th down. And I'm mainly talking about when he runs on first or second or has passed the first down marker already. Go down, live to play another down. Don't be greedy.

 

[Bemular]

One thing I said during SB week was that Kaep has enough confidence in himself, in the system, and in his teammates to believe he can get those risky yards later by just executing the offense. He understands that and while I think Alex does too, he didn't in the play that he got hit by Dunbar in the Rams game. If he had just slid correctly, he'd lose a yard but not get hit (down at start of slide). Sometimes, these injuries occur when you are trying to get every yard you can, when in the grand scheme of things, those yards were not that important, moving the chains is, sometime before 4th down. And I'm mainly talking about when he runs on first or second or has passed the first down marker already. Go down, live to play another down. Don't be greedy.

Exactly! Play Smart!

The nice thing about having Colin as our QB is that he doesn't even need his legs to be successful in this league.

 

[Ray_Dogg]

I did not see him take many shots, so I have no worries. He's pretty built anyway.

 

[threelittleturds]

You can't really protect against injury, it is just a roll of the dice. Especially when you're one of the guys who gets targeted by DC's as someone who they need to put a hurt on.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Thing is, Kap doesn't play like RG3, trying to get every yard and beat guys whenever possible, doesn't seem determined to prove anything. At least so far, he takes the yards he can get, then runs out or slides rather than risk anything. Even a few times had a guy one on one, could have tried to beat him, but ran out. Just no sense trying to be a tough guy or make the big play every time, more important to stay on the field.

 

[1911Alaska]

HA! I made the same joke a few time back when he was alive.

Someone posted here that Mike Wallace died, and I was one of the few to not get fooled by that one.

That was me, thought it would be fun to mess with some of you guys by making you think it was NFLs Mike Wallace and not news reporter

 

[Jikkle]

I don't think health is going to be a major concern for CK. At least not until he's much older.

I think people look at Vick and RGIII and say there is no way a mobile QB can last but both of those guys are built on the small side and both run like complete idiots.

If you watch CK and even Wilson both run very intelligently by grabbing their yards and getting out of bounds or being quick on the slide when they know the play is over.

I don't see CK taking any more of a pounding on his body than Aaron Rodgers taking 51 sacks or Big Ben taking the pounding his does.

 

[Crimsoncrew]

Kap is pretty good at avoiding big shots. He took on against the Packs when he was penalized for throwing the ball. But other than that, he did a very good job throughout the playoffs of getting out of bounds. Or in the endzone. I would agree that we should try to limit his running, but QBs can take shots and get injured in the pocket as well. Based on what I've seen so far, I'm not terribly worried.

Having said that about taking shots, I wouldn't have minded seeing him take a shot if it game going for the endzone on one of those roll-outs on the final drive. Ugh.

 

[TobyTyler]

When reading other fans' takes on Kaep, many say that it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt. I know many of them are just jealous, but I do worry about it. When we're in the pistol, I can see teams just hitting him without caring if he has the ball or not. I thought I saw the Ravens do that a couple times. I actually think that he does a pretty good job protecting himself when runs (e.g., he gets down or runs out of bounds), but still I worry. The good thing is that he is awesome at passing, too, so the Niners don't need to run him that much, IMO. Just having the threat of him running may be enough to take advantage of that part of his game.

Please tell me that I'm just worrying too much about this.

Yes, that was a briliant strategy by the Ravens and it really seemed to rattle Kaepernick. I noticed him whining to the refs a couple of times because of that. Kaepernick is a good enough passer though to make his running secondary. I think he'll be fine.

 

[Robotech]

Yes, that was a briliant strategy by the Ravens and it really seemed to rattle Kaepernick. I noticed him whining to the refs a couple of times because of that. Kaepernick is a good enough passer though to make his running secondary. I think he'll be fine.

It really seems like there is nothing you can do about that. The defensive player can just claim that he thought Kaep had the ball. I hope he doesn't get injured on a play like that.

 

[Robotech]

I'm feeling better, guys. I'm sure the coaches know how to limit his exposure to hits. Also, Kaep is smart and is built like a linebacker.