San Francisco 49ers: Quarterback Options for Head Coach Chip Kelly in 2016
By Peter Panacy
Quarterback Blaine Gabbert
Should the 49ers elect to part ways with quarterback Colin Kaepernick, fellow QB Blaine Gabbert would likely be the assumed starter for Week 1 of the 2016 season under head coach Chip Kelly.
This would probably be the stop-gap, temporary option for San Francisco while the team grooms and develops its heir apparent under center. And the move from Kaepernick to Gabbert, in terms of roster and cap space, would save the Niners roughly $10 million this year.
Gabbert took over from Kaepernick in Week 9 and finished the season with a 63.1 completion percentage, 10 touchdowns against seven interceptions and a passer rating of 86.2.
Like Kaepernick, Gabbert may benefit from Kelly’s coaching style — a system the latter quarterback saw during his collegiate tenure at Missouri. But — as NFL Films Senior Producer Greg Cosell noted, via KNBR 680 (h/t CSN Bay Area) — Gabbert won’t exactly be turning into a top-tier quarterback anytime soon.
“I remember watching him at Missouri, and I had to watch eight or nine games because I had to find plays in which he had to actually had stay in the pocket for two, three, four seconds because I had to see how he would react to that, and he didn’t react to that well at Missouri,” Cosell explained. “And that was a major reservation I had about him coming into the league. I didn’t think he was a strong pocket guy, even though he’s a pocket quarterback and that played out in Jacksonville.
“But he has to play, you had to sit Kaepernick, but we’ll see. My sense is that’s in someone’s DNA. I don’t think all of a sudden he’ll be a real strong pocket quarterback.”
Cosell’s observations reinforce the notion Gabbert should be a stop-gap option for the 49ers and nothing more.
And this will likely be the case should San Francisco go that route in 2016.
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