You probably forgot how bad Colin Kaepernick was last year
Kaepernick was replaced by Gabbert last year for a reason he turned in one of the worst quarterbacking seasons in recent NFL history. The Browns wouldnt have started him.
Lets refresh the memory:
Last season, Kaepernick had a defense-adjusted yards above replacement Football Outsiders ultimate value quotient of minus-182, 35th in the NFL. By all metrics, he was one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.
These numbers look even worse when you consider that the 49ers went to a single-read offense for Kaepernick after his terrible four-interception performance against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3. ... Kaepernick was air-mailing throws all over the field, and when he wasnt doing that, he was skipping easy ones like this.
The 49ers went to a read-option offense for the next two games, and Kaepernick and the Niners didnt look half bad. They werent a good team, but they werent being embarrassed.
But then defenses figured it out. The unraveling became a meltdown.
Kaepernicks performance in the 49ers Week 7 Thursday Night Football game last year was among the worst quarterback performances in recent NFL history. As I wrote at the time "his mechanics had become so disorganized that even the easiest toss became an adventure in forward passing."
Were talking about 10-yard outs being thrown 15 feet over receivers heads. Eventually, the 49ers stopped throwing the ball on third-and-long, such was the struggle.
It kept getting worse and worse. You honestly couldnt tell if Kaepernick was throwing the ball away or aiming for intended receivers by the end of the contest.
There were basic mental lapses, too on a third down in the second quarter, he broke the huddle with 17 seconds remaining on the play clock, only to try to change the play with three seconds remaining. The Niners were hit with a delay-of-game flag.
Kaepernick simply wasnt allowed to throw beyond the first-down sticks in that game. The 49ers had a one-read system in place, and that read never went past the first-down marker, regardless of scenario.
Kaepernicks lack of awareness finally forced the 49ers hand they had to go to Gabbert after the Rams decided to stop covering wide receivers at the line of scrimmage and Kaepernick didnt recognize it.
Kaepernick was, hands down, the worst quarterback in the NFL last season. He played so poorly that he made Gabbert look competent by comparison. He made mistakes that would get a high-school quarterback benched.
Kaepernick sucked, plain and simple. At this point he's not even good enough to be QB on a top college team.
Thank you! This is why he was benched and why teams don't care for him.
Even guys in similar situations like RG3 eventually bounced back and has a backup role and accepted it. Kap didn't want to have a backup role.