Cloning Kaepernick
Niners Nation
SAN FRANCISCO — Six feet, four inches. 230 pounds. Rocket arm. Mobile. Dual threat. San Francisco 49ers quarterback.
To current Niners fans, this description might bring one name to mind: Trey Lance, the Niners’ starting quarterback and first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
However, that description also fits Colin Kaepernick.
Lance has drawn countless comparisons to former Kaepernick, due to their similarities in play style and physical stature.
These attributes have brought up questions surrounding Kaepernick’s release from the Niners. Head coach Kyle Shanahan’s explanation as to why has not aligned with the reasons why the 49ers would select Lance. Shanahan, who released Kaepernick, stated that his reasons for doing so was simply due to the lack of fit in the offensive scheme he was building. Despite this, in 2021, Shanahan strong-armed the 49ers front office, giving up two first round picks, to select Lance. If Lance fits the Shanhan’s offensive scheme, why couldn’t Kaepernick? Did his controversial status end up having a larger impact on his release than Shanahan led us to believe?
“I think you know the answer to that,” said Martenzie Johnson, writer for the Undefeated. “All 32 teams in general… they knew that they were done with him despite him only being 29 at the time.”
By the close of the 2016 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick had played six seasons in the NFL. The quarterback had taken the NFL by storm, infatuating football fans with his unique mobility and cannon arm; a true dual threat. After leading the 49ers to two NFC Championship matches and a Super Bowl appearance, it begs the question as to why the Niners would want to replace Kaepernick with a player like Lance, who’s skillsets are already so similar to what they had.
Kaepernick vs. America
Kaepernick chose to sit during the national anthem to take a stand and increase awareness of the growing pains of black Americans faced with concerns of police brutality and social injustice. The move stirred up controversy throughout the league but also reopened dialogues across the American cultural sphere. Kapernick had succeeded, but it had come with a price.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!” said former president Donald Trump at a Alabama rally in the fall of 2017.
Kaepernick was informed he would not be returning to the 49ers for the 2017 NFL season. The team entered the season with no legitimate options at quarterback. Brian Hoyer and CJ Betheard shared snaps at the position, ranking as the 31st and 32nd most efficient quarterbacks (minimum 100 pass attempts) in the league to that point. The team won zero games in that time span. Only when Shanahan decided that trading for a new quarterback was the only way to salvage the season were the 49ers able to produce some numbers in the win column.
“If you bring in a quarterback who is the best when he’s a dual threat and can do all those types of things, that affects an entire offense,” said Shanahan in reference to Kaepernick via the Press Democrat. “That doesn’t just affect one guy. That’s a huge commitment to your entire team. So, when you bring in someone like that when you’re going to have to tinker the offense to fit one player, you’ve got to know you’re tinkering every single person on that offense, too. So, when it comes to the quarterback and some o-linemen, you look into that a little bit more. After that, I think it’s all pretty overrated.”
Simply put, according to Shanahan, Kaepernick’s ability to be a dual threat would burden the Niner’s with needing to cater the offense around him. As for Lance?
“Lance has athletic ability. He’s mobile. He has arm strength. He’s a dual threat,” said Dan Shonka, a former NFL scout for the Chiefs, Redskins, and Eagles.
The signal callers' similarities go farther than just their abilities on the playing field. As of 2022, Kaepernick and Lance have followed nearly identical career paths. Coming out of college, both were deemed and drafted as “project quarterbacks” hailing from small program schools. Both in their rookie seasons sat behind “game-manager” quarterbacks that led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game and lost. Both took the jobs of their predecessors in their second seasons.
“But why draft so similarly? Because Kaepernick took them to the Super Bowl,” said Shonka.
“As much as the 32 teams say it's not about the protests, I would argue that they’re probably lying,” said Johnson. “Why would they trade so many first round draft picks to acquire Trey Lance, when they already had someone of that skillset who had reached that peak?”
The 49ers are hoping that Lance will be the answer they’ve been looking for at quarterback since the departure of Kaepernick. As for Kaepernick, he hasn’t been offered an opportunity to play in the NFL since his release in 2016. Despite this, Kaepernick has yet to file any retirement papers. As each year passes, his window of opportunity to once again play in the NFL gets smaller and smaller. This, although, hasn’t stopped Kaepernick one bit.
Kapernick has continuously been posting training sessions along his social media platforms, namely Instagram and Twitter. These viral videos depict him working out with esteemed professional and collegiate athletes, ranging from Jalen McClesky to Tyler Lockett. Maybe this time, Kaepernick will get a second chance in the NFL.
“It would be a big deal, but I don’t think it would change anything,” said Johnson, “They’ve done everything they could to silence him.”
