Those sick of the lengthy Colin Kaepernick/Broncos saga can breathe a sign of relief tonight. After trading up to select Paxton Lynch in tonight’s draft, GM John Elway confirmed to Mike Klis of 9NEWS (Twitter link) that the team will no longer pursue the 49ers quarterback.
The Broncos and 49ers have been discussing a Kaepernick deal for most of the offseason to date. A deal seemed to be close earlier this month, but the proposed swap was blown up when No. 7 refused to take the severe pay cut being requested by Denver.
As of three weeks ago, the Broncos were reportedly hoping to push his $11.9MM number down to $7MM and have Kaepernick also take pay cuts in the other years of his deal. However, Kaepernick’s camp was committed to either keeping the salaries intact or changing the contract to allow him to hit free agency next offseason, when his controlling team could cut him before his salary becomes guaranteed for 2017.
Now that Kaepernick’s leading suitor has pulled out of the chase, the Niners must turn their attention to other QB-needy teams or try and smooth things over with Kaepernick. The Jets, at one point in time, were connected to Kaepernick and it’s conceivable that they could get some dialogue going as talks with Ryan Fitzpatrick remain at a standstill. However, some reports have indicated that the Jets aren’t all that interested in Kaepernick, despite his apparent interest in them.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I’m so mad I don’t want this clown and the niners traded up only to pass up on jack!
We will Trade back into the 2nd Rd I can almost guarantee it and I’m pretty sure we will get either Jack or maybe cook but I am positive we will get back into the 2nd Rd and honestly now that I think about it that trade makes a lot of sense. Our o line sucked horribly and that player is not going to hurt it that’s for sure. I like out picks so far a lot especially Buckner. He was my number one pick over all
You sure? If we get jack we get a Very Good draft.
Where do you envision them trading back into the second round? I don’t know how many/where their remaining picks are, but I figured their spot was perfect for taking Jack. Trading back up that high is a little murky now, I could see the Jags taking him if he falls to them there (considering Ramsey/Jack were their two main guys at one point).
They still have 9 picks left, a third, a fourth, like 3 5ths, 3 6ths, and 1 7th.
I could see them moving into the second half of the second round…but I don’t see them trading into the top half of the round. Unless they give up next year’s second rounder, any trade into that first half is probably going to cost them that third round pick plus some combination of the fourth/fifths/sixths.