Chip Kelly says he is both impressed and intrigued by Blaine Gabbert
Great news, disillusioned 49ers fans! First-year coach Chip Kelly had some nice things to say about Blaine Gabbert.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
1 min read
Great news, disillusioned 49ers fans! First-year coach Chip Kelly had some nice things to say about Blaine Gabbert, the man who played surprisingly well last season after taking over for Colin Kaepernick.
"(I'm) impressed with Blaine," Kelly said, via CSNBayArea.com's Matt Maiocco. "You watch him the last couple of games he started. He's another guy, you look at his skill set. He took off against the Bears and went (44) yards for a touchdown. He ran 4.61 in the combine when he was coming out.
"He's big. I'd never really dealt with Blaine because he came into the league before I came into the league, but just how big and physical and impressive he is. He's a 6-4, 245-pound guy that can really run. I thought the last part of the season he played really well. It'll be intriguing to work with him, too."
Gabbert, the Jaguars' 2012 first-round pick, was ineffective in his first three seasons in Jacksonville, and the team shipped him to San Francisco for a sixth-rounder in March 2014. He played in just one game that season, Jim Harbaugh's last in San Francisco, before starting eight times in 2015 for Kaepernick, who was plagued by inconsistency and injuries.
Kaepernick still could be traded in the coming days though it sounds like his immediate future will be with the 49ers.
"I've had discussions with several teams and it's gone no further than that, as [Kaepernick's] agents have had several discussions [with teams]," 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said this week. "We're nowhere near getting anything done at this point."
If Kaepernick remains, he and Gabbert will battle for the starting gig. As for Kaepernick's struggles a season ago, Kelly has a simple answer for what went wrong.
“I think the biggest misconception that people don’t realize with Kap is just injuries,” Kelly explained. “It’s not like his skill set diminished. He went on injured reserve last year, so he was only available for eight games. He was legitimately injured.”
Fair enough, but if a healthy Kaepernick can't beat out Gabbert, the 49ers will have a backup quarterback earning a base salary of $11.9 million next season.
