49ers Won’t Trade Colin Kaepernick

2:50pm: While it appears Kaepernick won’t be dealt today, there are multiple teams interested in possibly acquiring him “down the road,” says Rand Getlin of the NFL Network (Twitter links). Getlin adds that there’s a strong sense that the 49ers’ front office influenced the decision to bench Kaepernick in favor of Gabbert.

12:28pm: The 49ers aren’t trading the recently benched Colin Kaepernick today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). San Francisco apparently hasn’t ruled out starting him later in the season.

On Monday the 49ers decided to bench the struggling Kaepernick in favor of backup Blaine Gabbert. Kaepernick, who turns 28 today, has completed just 59.3 percent of his pass attempts for 1,615 yards in eight games and he has six touchdown passes against five interceptions. With a career-low passer rating of 78.8 and two consecutive losses against division rivals, one can understand why the 49ers are making this change. Of course, it’s also fair to wonder if Gabbert is capable of playing any better than Kaepernick has been.

The 49ers can get out of Kaepernick’s deal without any real financial repercussion this offseason and many have speculated that they will do so now that they have bumped him down on the depth chart. However, it appears that the Niners aren’t ready to give up on No. 7 just yet. Kaepernick probably wouldn’t net them much of a return anyway, so the Niners don’t have much incentive to part with him.

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