San Francisco 49ers: Colin Kaepernick opts out of contract, becomes free agent

The San Francisco 49ers look to be moving on from former star quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

It was first reported today by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that Colin Kaepernick has decided to opt out of his contract with the 49ers and become a free agent. This move won’t surprise many people, but it looks to be a sad ending to what started out as a promising career.

Kaepernick was picked by the 49ers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. From there he blossomed into the starting quarterback for the team after an injury to Alex Smith in the 2012 season. He ended up leading the 49ers to the playoffs that year and would eventually lose a heartbreaker in the Super Bowl to the Baltimore Ravens.

Despite falling short in the Super Bowl, it was clear under the leadership of head coach Jim Harbaugh that Kaepernick was going to end up being a special quarterback. In the two seasons to follow that Super Bowl run, Kaepernick performed well. He threw for 3,197 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2013, and 3,369 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2014.

Following the 2014 season, Harbaugh was fired and things started going downhill for Kaepernick. He only played in nine games in the 2015 season and 12 games in 2016. Since Harbaugh’s departure, the 49ers organization has been in turmoil and this helped derail the career of Kaepernick.

Now Kaepernick will be on the open market. He’s still only 29 years old and has some solid arm talent. There are teams that need a quarterback and we’ll see if any are interested when the free agent period starts on March 9 at 4 p.m. ET.

Next: 2017 NFL Mock Draft: Bears tap Deshaun Watson

But for now, this looks to be the end of an interesting era in San Francisco 49ers history.