The leash the 49ers have on quarterback Colin Kaepernick in October makes it hard to believe that he will still be with San Francisco next April.
Kaepernick may have had an awful performance Thursday night during the Seahawks' 20-3 victory -- he was 13-for-24 passing for 124 yard with six sacks for 43 yards lost and a quarterback rating of 9.0 -- but the 49ers hardly put him in any position to succeed.
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The Niners converted just 1 of 11 third-down opportunities, but Kaepernick had little chance of making a big play to keep the drives alive.
"The 49ers faced seven third-and-long situations in Thursday's game - only once did the play call for Kaepernick to throw past the first-down marker," KNBR.com reported. "Instead, the 49ers called four screen passes and a third-and-18 run."
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The one conversion the Niners did have, on third-and-10 from their own 7, Kaepernick had to improvise by slipping past Seattle's oncoming rush, having to move toward the line of scrimmage to find tight end Vernon Davis for a 13-yard pass play.
San Francisco is unwilling to allow Kaepernick to make a mistake to put its defense at a disadvantage, KNBR added.
"There was no schematic advantage to running the ball or throwing a short screen in those situations - the Seahawks sniffed those plays out with ease, as if they knew they were coming," KNBR reported. "No, the plays were called because they were the only plays the Niners could call that all-but-guaranteed Kaepernick wasn't sacked or threw an interception."
And as Deadspin pointed out, Kaepernick had zero rushing attempts for the first time in his career. He worked all offseason with quarterbacks coach Dennis Gile as well as Hall of Famer Kurt Warner to become a better pocket passer, and he may be trying to figure out how to make a play while staying in the pocket.
But all it has done is allow defenses to pin their ears back and go after the 49ers quarterback because they know they face little threat of getting burned.
The 49ers are 2-5 on the season and have little hope of turning their fortunes around this season. And they don't figure to be able to add significantly to the scheme with Kaepernick still on the team for 2016.
Because of the contract Kaepernick signed before the start of the 2014 season, San Francisco can cut him before April 1 of any year left on his contract without owing him another dime.
Which makes it more likely that Kaepernick is going to have to earn his dimes on another team.
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