Chiefs Draft Prospects: QB Colin Kaepernick
According to our friends at Arrowhead Pride, the Kansas City Chiefs reportedly have a work out scheduled with Nevead QB Colin Kaepernick.
Pride sites an interview Kaepernick gave on Sirius Radio in which he mentioned a few teams he had workouts scheduled with including the Dolphins, Browns, Titans and Chiefs. AP links to a tweet from Adam Schein, of Sirus Radio which they claim confirms the report but the link is no longer working. Regardless, AP is entirely reliable so there is no doubt about the report.
If you don’t know much about Kaepernick, you may be in for a slight bit of a shock. Kaepernick is currently projected to be drafted from anywhere in the late first round to the third.
After the jump, we’ll do a breakdown of Kaepernick and then we’ll get into what KC’s interests might mean.
Kaepernick is 6-5 and weighs in at 233 lbs. In the numerous scouting reports I’ve read, it seems like most agree that Kaepernick isn’t the type of QB who would be an immediate contributor. He has very good arm strength but displays poor footwork and throws the ball with a sort of baseball pitchers delivery. He’s been playing in a “Pistol”* style offense, similar to what Chan Gailey ran in KC with Tyler Thigpen. Since he hasn’t been in a Pro Style offense, most scouts tend to think that he would need a couple of years of development.
*The “Pistol” formation is that awkward formation where the QB is in the shotgun but has a HB lined up right next to him. It made for all those awkward handoffs to Larry Johnson.
Kaepernick is a very athletic QB and can make plays with both his arm and his legs. He ran a 4.53 40 at the combine and rushed for over four thousand yards in his college career. In 2010, he threw for 3022 yards, completed 64.9% of his passes, had a 21-8 TD to INT ratio and rushed for 1206 yards and get this, 20 touchdowns.
Here is a bit on the QB’s negatives from Sideline Scouting:
"Puts a little too much loft under his deep outs… Misses too many easy throws… Receivers have to adjust to too many of his passes… Deep throws are all over the place… Tries to do too much with his feet, runs with the ball far too often when he should keep his eyes downfield to throw… Very awkward throwing motion, has an elongated release where he pauses at the top of his motion before flicking the football forward."
What does this all mean?
The Chiefs have already had a private workout with QB Andy Dalton and now they are looking at Kaepernick. This is curious because both QB’s are projected to go around the late first to third rounds.
I don’t take this as an incitement on Matt Cassel. I take it as an incitement on Brodie Croyle. Quite frankly, the Chiefs would be wise to grab as talented a QB as they can in this draft without wasting a pick. The team is getting better and deeper each year and Scott Pioli would be extremely foolish not to have solid depth at team’s most important position. We saw last year that without Matt Cassel the Chiefs were pretty much screwed.
Matt Cassel is about to turn 29 and while he should be entering his prime as a QB, there is always the chance that he could get injured or flame out. QB’s like Dalton and Kaepernick aren’t guys you want starting from day one but they both have huge upside and potential.
The Chiefs are rolling with Matt Cassel in 2011 but what about beyond that? What if Cassel gets hurt or stops progressing? The Chiefs are likely wisely taking warning from teams like the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings. Those teams are loaded with talent and are wasting years because they don’t have the right guy playing QB.
My guess is that the Chiefs are strongly considering taking a QB in the third round if they right guy is available. If Dalton or Kaepernick were to slide that far, they’d be wise to snatch one of them up. This way they could inject the QB position with depth and developmental talent without causing too much of a QB controversy.
The best thing for the Chiefs would be for Matt Cassel to continue to develop and to continue making Pro Bowls but it certainly won’t hurt the Chiefs to have a very solid backup plan just in case.
What do you think Addicts? Would you mind if the Chiefs used a third or even a second round pick on a high upside, developmental QB in this year’s draft?