Colin Kaepernick most likely would be a good systematical fit for the Denver Broncos and Gary Kubiak’s offense, but given the back and forth news over the past few days, the situation is looking better and better for Trevor Siemian.
Sure, it would be nice to have a quarterback of a different skill set to compete against the likes of Mark Sanchez, Siemian and perhaps a draft pick. The thing is, the more noise that this huge trade rumor creates, the less I’m actually interested in Kaepernick and the more interest I have in Siemian.
Denver and San Francisco have agreed to a trade that will send a mid-round 2016 draft pick to the 49ers and Kaepernick to the Broncos. The hold-up is that Denver only wants to play $7 million of Kaepernick’s 2016 salary.
According to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, the 49ers will not pay the $4.9 million difference and there will be no deal.
While all of this back and forth chatter has been going on, the more I want Denver to give Siemian a serious chance at competing for the starting job. He is the only quarterback on the roster that will have any experience with this Denver team.
Siemian also showed promise in preseason running the Broncos offense and the Kubiak system. In fact, Siemian could have been a much higher draft pick if he’d not torn his ACL while at Northwestern. Also, do not underestimate the one-year that Siemian had with Peyton Manning and what he learned in terms of quarterback smarts and leadership.
Denver is taking a serious risk with Kaepernick, deal or no deal. It is risky when you ask a quarterback to cut a third of his guaranteed salary for a season. It’s playing with fire when the quarterback that you are asking to do this has had serious leadership issues in the past.
The more this trade rumor continues to be in media conversation, the less appealing Kaepernick is. Denver is already in salary cap hell and should not take on this type of contract. The Broncos should use one of their 10 draft picks and select a quarterback that will compete with Sanchez and Siemian.
Denver might just end up with a better option in the long run.
Listen to the full conversation below …
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