49ers Trade Rumors: Colin Kaepernick Wants Trade From San Francisco 49ers

49ers trade rumors have quarterback Colin Kaepernick requesting out of San Francisco. These San Francisco 49ers trade rumors may catch fans off guard, especially with new head coach Chip Kelly seemingly giving Colin Kaepernick his full support recently. A report from ESPN.com now states that the agents for Kaepernick have asked permission to seek out a trade for the benched quarterback of the 49ers. It’s not what Chip Kelly expected to hear.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, February 25, Kelly had a lot of praise to give Kaepernick, as he made many comments about the former starting quarterback wanting to continue playing for the San Francisco 49ers. He spoke at length about the situation as well, which makes the recent 49ers trade rumors even more frustrating for fans of the team.

“He wants to be here. He’s never expressed to me that he didn’t want to be here. He expressed to me that he’s excited about getting healthy and getting going. And we’re excited about him getting healthy and getting going. He’s seemed excited every time I’ve talked to him. I’ve also learned to not believe everything that’s on the Internet.”

These latest San Francisco 49ers trade rumors come just weeks before Colin Kaepernick’s salary for the 2016 NFL season will become guaranteed. It gives the 49ers a very small window to either trade Kaepernick or simply release him. It is also now very likely that Chip Kelly is going to have to hold a new press conference to discuss what Kaepernick’s agents just did on behalf of the quarterback.

During the 2015 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers struggled quite a bit with Colin Kaepernick as the starting quarterback. He quickly found himself on the bench in favor of backup Blaine Gabbert, with the tandem taking the 49ers straight to last place in the NFC West. The 49ers finished the season with a 5-11 record that was the second worst in the NFC.

In nine games, Kaepernick completed just 59 percent of his passes for 1,615 yards. He finished the season with just six touchdown passes to go with five interceptions and five fumbles. The numbers continued a downward trend that had begun during the 2014 NFL season and was exacerbated by a struggling team around him. It presented a lot of questions as the 2016 NFL offseason began.

Though there had been prior San Francisco 49ers trade rumors about the team possibly moving on from Colin Kaepernick, it all seemed to quiet down when Chip Kelly was hired as the new head coach. Many NFL analysts felt that Kelly could work with Kaepernick and figure out what had gone wrong with the 28-year-old quarterback. Now, Kaepernick’s agents are making it known that their client wants nothing to do with the 49ers’ organization.

What happens at this point? Colin Kaepernick is still under a long-term contract with the San Francisco 49ers that could pay him for five more NFL seasons. Most of his salary for the 2016 NFL season is not guaranteed, though, so the team has a way to get out of the deal before April 1. At that point, Kaepernick’s base salary of $11.9 million for 2016 becomes guaranteed.

The current cap hit for Kaepernick is about $7.4 million with the 49ers, but that would jump to just about $15.9 million if he is still on the roster in April. It raises some difficult questions for the front office in Santa Clara, giving way to many new San Francisco 49ers trade rumors as the combine and draft approaches. With the latest comments coming out from his agents, is it now time for the 49ers and new head coach Chip Kelly to officially head in a new direction that doesn’t include Colin Kaepernick?

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