Midway through the 2015 NFL season, it was pretty clear that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was not going to be donning the garnet and gold in 2016. With the hiring of Chip Kelly earlier this week, that doesn’t seem like it will be the case and one legendary 49er doesn’t believe so either.
Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice talked with reporters on Friday and said that he believes Kaepernick and Kelly could compliment each other very well. This is contrary to what a lot of people believe as the 49ers are expected to draft a quarterback with their top five pick in April.
“I think with Chip Kelly, it brought life to Colin Kaepernick,” Rice told the Golf Channel this week, per CSN Bay Area. “You look at Chip Kelly and what he was trying to implement in Philadelphia — with (Mark) Sanchez, (Nick) Foles, and (Sam) Bradford — those guys were more like pocket passers.
“Now you got that read-option with Colin Kaepernick, a guy that can get outside the pocket and a guy that can extend plays, and he’s also gonna be a threat to run,” Rice said. “It could be a good marriage for them.”
Kaepernick has been the master of the run-and-gun and read option offense during his career in the NFL and Kelly was a pretty big proponent of that offense during his time with Oregon and in Philadelphia.
There’s no telling what the 49ers are going to do, but I wouldn’t be surprised to stick with Kaepernick going forward just to see what Kelly can do with him.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
