San Francisco 49ers: Starting Lineup Predictions for 2016 Season

Quarterback – Blaine Gabbert

Quarterback Blaine Gabbert is the incumbent. He took over after Week 9 of last season and performed decently. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required) in his limited action he finished with a grade of plus-66.5 (from a zero to 100 scale) which was 27th out of 38 qualified QBs.

It his job to lose. During the OTAs and minicamp he had uneven performances, throwing several touchdown passes but also throwing many interceptions.

Niner Noise’s Chandler Wright wrote an excellent piece on why he thinks Gabbert wins the starting job, including how he sees the field better than Colin Kaepernick.

However, the most important fact is he got a head start over Kaepernick, who was recovering from his shoulder, knee and thumb injuries. It is good to see Kaepernick has begun throwing (and he has been shadowing the plays) but he won’t be fully ready until training camp.

It will be interesting to see if Kelly will wait until this time to announce his Week 1 starter. Kelly seems to have a belief about Gabbert and his ability to run the offense.

Expect Gabbert to begin the season as the starter. However, after the first month of the season if the Niners are 0-4 and he is throwing picks and the offense is stalling, expect to see Kaepernick in at this point.

Next: Offensive Line