As if trying to secure a spot on the 53-man game day roster were not enough to occupy the complete attention of rugby-player-turned-NFL-er Jarryd Hayne, there are already grumblings of trouble in paradise caused by speculation that new coach Chip Kelly and General Manager Trent Baalke are not meshing well from a perspective of personality and gridiron ideology.
The big issue is that Kelly likes to have a large say in player-personnel decisions, territory general managers like to claim for themselves. Kelly is on record as saying he wants no part of 49ers personnel decisions, but one landed squarely in his lap beginning not long after he was hired to replace Jim Harbaugh.
Kelly wasted no time inserting himself into the controversy that surrounds quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s desire to play elsewhere, saying that he would like to see Kaepernick remain with the team.
As NFL quarterback salaries go, Kaepernick, who the 49ers thought enough of to release a proven winner in Alex Smith, he is quite a bargain at under $12 million for the upcoming season.
The only legitimate suitors, it seems, are the Denver Broncos, who unfortunately do not have money enough under the NFL salary cap to pay a franchise quarterback, especially after the Houston Texans threw $18 million per season for four years at the completely unproven ex-Broncos backup, Brock Osweiler.
