What It Means:

Kaepernick endured operations on his shoulder, knee and thumb, although it was his shoulder that was awaiting final clearance. Depending on how his conditioning is, the 28-year-old signal-caller may still open camp on the active/PUP list. He and Blaine Gabbert will compete for the starting gig under center, and it appears Kaepernick has some ground to make up, based on reports out of San Francisco.

Among passers with at least 100 drop backs, Gabbert and Kaepernick finished 38th and 39th, respectively, in Passing Net Expected Points per drop back last season. Despite the aforementioned reports, we currently project Kaepernick to win the starting job, at least for now. Our algorithms give him a line of 2,979 passing yards, 14.43 touchdowns and 14.44 interceptions, as well as 87 rushes for 394 yards and 2.98 touchdowns.