While there have been reports that the San Francisco 49ers are planning for Blaine Gabbert to be their starting quarterback this season, it would appear that both he and Colin Kaepernick are getting an equal shot at winning the job.
Gabbert and Kaepernick are sharing first-team reps in training camp thus far, and Matt Barrows of The Sacramento Bee reports that the competition appears “even” in the early going. Niners coach Chip Kelly says he is trying to give both players “quality reps.”
“We try and even that out as best we can,” Kelly said. “Whoever starts a drill, you know, the next drill up, the next time we have a team period, then someone else will start that drill. So who starts the first one isn’t the most important thing. It’s just – let’s get some quality reps for both Blaine and Kap, and I think they’ve done a good job taking advantage of that.”
According to Barrows, both Kaepernick and Gabbert have looked better when playing with the first team, which makes sense. Gabbert has been more efficient throwing the deep ball while Kaepernick has broken off chunk yardage with his legs.
We know Kelly had success with mobile quarterbacks like Marcus Mariota at Oregon, which is why many believed he would aim to resurrect Kaepernick’s career. However, there have been indications that the 49ers don’t want Kaep to win the job.
If Kelly had already made up his mind, giving both players equal reps with the first team would be a waste of time. It’s starting to look like this is a true open competition.
