An Oldie, But A Goodie

The Niners should not pay Kaepernick.  This article nails it. Excerpts:

Put emotion aside. Think who Kaepernick is and what he’s accomplished. The 49ers dumped Alex Smith and anointed — yes anointed — Kaepernick to win the Super Bowl. Nothing less. They didn’t anoint him to lose the Super Bowl, something he’s already done. And they didn’t anoint him to lose in the NFC championship game. Smith already did that and he came pretty cheap. The 49ers expect Kaepernick to be above the Alex Level and you could argue forcibly he is not. The 49ers inserted Kaepernick into the best team in football as the final ingredient and he did not come through. For that, a man does not earn $20 million. Or $15 million. 

Still, if I’m the Niners, I don’t pay Kaepernick Flacco money. I don’t make him obscenely wealthy because I think one day he just might win a Super Bowl, not sure when. I don’t pay for hypotheticals. I pay for production. And I sure don’t ruin my salary structure for Kaepernick, don’t risk losing in free agency Anquan Boldin, Donte Whitner, Phil Dawson, Tarell Brown and others. I do not degrade my team to make Kaepernick happy.

The Super Bowl champion Ravens degraded their team — goodbye, Anquan — to satisfy Flacco, and they tanked this season. No thanks. 

I’ll tell you something else. If I’m the 49ers, I don’t sign Kaepernick to Flacco money because I (me being the 49ers) don’t ask much from my quarterback — at least not from Kaepernick as he currently exists. Flacco, Cutler, Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers — you name them — are vital to running their teams’ offenses. But the Niners run a glorified college passing game. I’m not the first to say this. Every Kaepernick read is predetermined — even that last failure of a pass to Michael Crabtree in Seattle. It’s something like, “Colin, just make the throw we tell you to make.” The 49ers do not ask him to read the field. It’s more like they tell him to look at the defense, decide in advance — hope — which receiver will be open and throw that sucker. This is not difficult. This is not Peyton Manning studying the field. Why should the Niners pay big money for something so remedial? I mean, really. The 49ers could get someone else to do that. On the cheap. 

Question: Why don’t the 49ers let Kaepernick play out his contract year and then slap the franchise tag on him after that? 

Offer Kaepernick a contract extension — although I’d have no problem making him play out his contract year for bupkis. But OK, offer him an extension for the goodwill of it. Offer $7 million a season, $8 million a season, stuff like that. Modest. Sensible. What he’s worth. Don’t expect him to take it. Let him play out his contract. If he wins the Super Bowl, give him the big bump he wants. If he doesn’t win the Super Bowl and wants more than you think he’s worth, let him walk.