The San Francisco 49ers had an opportunity to reunite with quarterback Colin Kaepernick when they lost quarterbacks Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance to injuries during the 2022 season. They ghosted him instead.
Kaepernick in an interview with the SF Standard's Scott Ostler said he reached out to 49ers owner Jed York during the tumultuous 2022 season that ultimately led to Brock Purdy's breakout and a trip to the NFC championship game. San Francisco never got back to him after his initial talk with York.
"I actually reached out to Jed [York] in, I believe, 2022, when they were going into the playoffs, and Jimmy [Garoppolo] had gotten hurt, and knew they were going to need a quarterback," Kaepernick told Ostler. "So I reached out: 'I’ve been training,
I’m ready.' And Jed said he was going to talk to Kyle and John and get back to me, and I never heard back."
The 49ers opted instead to roll with veteran Josh Johnson, who joined the club's roster in early December after a foot injury sidelined Garoppolo for the season. Johnson saw action in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles and completed 7-of-13 throws for 74 yards. He also fumbled a snap before halftime that was recovered by Philadelphia. He also rushed twice for two yards.
It isn't a surprise the 49ers turned down Kaepernick, who at that point hadn't been in the NFL in six years. Johnson had at least been on practice squads and made five starts in the span of years Kaepernick was out of the NFL. However, it is a bit of a surprise York didn't get back to the quarterback that took his team to the Super Bowl in 2012.
Even if York knew there was no chance Shanahan would greenlight the move and never spoke to the head coach about it, a cursory "thanks, but no thanks" response would've been better than nothing.
The 49ers and head coach Jim Harbaugh selected Kaepernick with the No. 36 overall pick in the 2011 draft. He started 58 of his 69 games across his six seasons in San Francisco and completed 59.8 percent of his throws for 12,271 yards with 72 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He also rushed for 2,300 yards and 13 touchdowns on 375 carries, good for an average of 6.1 yards per attempt − the fifth-highest mark in NFL history among players with at least 375 rushing attempts.
Kaepernick told Ostler he continues working out in hopes an NFL team decides they're willing to take a flyer on the former second-round pick. At this point that ship feels like it has long since sailed, and given the 49ers' unwillingness to even respond to his query under the most dire QB conditions, the ship has certainly sailed in the Bay Area.
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This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers ghosted Colin Kaepernick amid 2022 QB injury crisis
