2016 NFL draft: Chiefs quarterback search

Oct 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) is defended by Kansas City Chiefs linebackers Josh Mauga (90) and Justin Houston (90) at Levi

San Francisco 49ers:  The 49ers are a late addition to this list, and I don’t know that they stick here.  Colin Kaepernick was benched, but there has been some chatter that this might just be Jim Tomsula hitting the reset button on him, as it were.  Kaepernick still has some impressive highlights to his resume, and is one of the better athletes at the quarterback position.  San Francisco will be in position to get the quarterback they want in the draft, but after this past offseason, they have a ton of needs on their roster.

I think the 49ers end up going the offensive line route.  There is some merit to the line of thinking that if they can fix the front five, Kaepernick could rebound.  It may be a situation where the team is convinced that they just need to get back to building the team around him.  There is no doubt that the roster was depleted this offseason for a variety of reasons.  So sticking with Kaep may be the path of least resistance here.

St Louis Rams:  The good news is that the Rams didn’t lose the Nick Foles-Sam Bradford trade.  But I wouldn’t say they won it either.  The Rams continue to rely heavily on their defense while the offense sputters away.  That seems to be a sure recipe for going after a new franchise quarterback.  However, that is not something that Jeff Fisher has ever been known for, instead usually choosing to go with known commodity veterans and trying to build a strong roster around them.

Fisher makes this a toss-up.  He would really be bucking a trend if he were to take a quarterback in the first round this year, and I do think he will be very tempted to take one of the top defensive players available in order to continue reloading on the stronger side of the ball.  And with Todd Gurley showing he might be a superstar in the making, the run-heavy/stingy defense model may be all the more appealing.

Washington Redskins:  The Robert Griffin III saga appears to be coming to an end.  And while Kurt Cousins did get to show off that one time, ultimately he has not shown himself to be much more than a capable backup.  It is very likely that head coach Jay Gruden will want to go get a new quarterback, if he still has a job.  Ultimately though, it’s Daniel Snyder’s show and he loves RGIII.

If Snyder meddles, this will likely be a disaster.  But if Gruden is allowed to pick his guy, there is a real chance that things will turn around in Washington.  So expect a lot of rumors to come out of DC this offseason in regards to job security and quarterback interest…I guarantee they will largely be accurate representations of what is really going on in the front office.