San Francisco 49ers: 7 Players on the Hot Seat This Offseason

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Sep 14, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kapernick (7) reacts after the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick

Kaepernick is the most obvious person on this list. He has the highest cap number going into 2016 ($15,890,753) and his performance was so poor this season that he was benched in Week 9. In his first eight games, he threw for only six touchdowns against five interceptions and repeatedly looked like a deer-in-the-headlights in the pocket where he struggled to get the ball down the field and took a bunch of drive-killing sacks.

Despite his efforts to improve over the previous offseason to improve his mechanics and his footwork (with former NFL MVP Kurt Warner), this failed to show in games, and it seems defenses have figured out how to defend him to the point where he just cannot be an effective NFL QB.

A divorce seems like the inevitable conclusion to the Kaepernick saga. The 49ers have the option to release or trade him prior to his contract becoming guaranteed on April 1 2016, which looks 99 percent certain barring some massive front office and coaching shake-up.

The 49ers most likely will go with Blaine Gabbert as the starter for 2016, and draft a QB at a point in the draft that is deemed to be the best value for the organization long term.

Next: Corey Lemonier