All signs point to Blaine Gabbert winning the starting quarterback job for the San Francisco 49ers this summer over Colin Kaepernick, and someone who might know more about the situation than the average person believes that will be the case.
Offensive lineman Alex Boone, who spent the first six seasons of his career with the Niners before signing with the Minnesota Vikings, recently told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that he believes Gabbert will be the guy.
“To be honest I think that Blaine did a great job last year, and from what I know of Blaine, I think he’s probably gonna take the reins,” Boone said. “I mean I think he’s a good guy, he knows what he’s doing out there, and he just has the support of the group so I think that’s one of the things to look forward to.”
Kaepernick may have fallen behind in the competition after undergoing surgeries on his shoulder, knee and thumb, but he expects to be ready for the start of training camp. He has not seemed like the same player since he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl a few seasons ago, and several reporters have labeled Gabbert the “heavy favorite” to win the job.
Boone, who was teammates with both Kaepernick and Gabbert last season, probably has some inside knowledge.
Chip Kelly, who tries to conduct business in a Bill Belichickian manner, doesn’t want us to know who his starter is going to be. When Kelly was first hired in San Francisco, there were rumblings that he was high on Kaepernick and would have traded for him even if he got a job somewhere else. But since then, we have heard nothing but reports like this indicating the exact opposite is true. The odds appear to be stacked against Kaepernick.
