It turns out that Colin Kaepernick may have had 11.9 million reasons for getting surgery during the 2015 season.

Because the embattled quarterback still is recovering from his surgeries, the 49ers likely cannot release him without financial compensation, according to Pro Football Talk.

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Sorry, Denver Broncos, and whoever else might be tempted to reach out to Kaepernick; he's not going anywhere unless they're willing to pony up a second-round pick before Friday.

"Per a source with knowledge of the NFL Players Association's position on the matter, the union would argue that cutting Kaepernick before April 1, if he's still injured, results in the salary becoming fully guaranteed and unavoidable, absent whatever offset the 49ers would receive if/when Kaepernick signs with another team in 2016. But he could take a one-year, minimum-salary deal elsewhere if he wanted, with the 49ers on the hook for the difference between what he gets in a new city and the $11.9 million," Pro Football Talk reported.

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"Common sense would suggest that cutting Kaepernick before the salary becomes fully guaranteed would keep the team on the hook only if he's still injured when the regular season arrives, since the money was guaranteed for injury only prior to April 1. But Article 44 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which sets forth the procedure for an injury grievance, generally defines the term broadly to encompass any situation in which a player contract is terminated at a time when the player 'was physically unable to perform the services required of him by that contract because of an injury incurred in the performance of his services under that contract.'

The only way San Francisco can get out of paying his 2016 salary is if he passes a physical by Friday, which PFT reports that "there's no indication that he's able to do so."

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