What It Means:

This sharply conflicts with multiple reports that have Blaine Gabbert pegged as the probable QB1 for San Francisco to start the season. According to Grant Cohn of the Press Democrat, Kaepernick "could win the quarterback competition without even competing" if Gabbert fails to improve on his performance from the 49ers' preseason opener. Kaepernick has been out for the majority of the past two weeks with a "dead arm," but is expected to be in action for the third exhibition contest. Gabbert has been with the first team offense since training camp started, but has reportedly struggled with accuracy issues.

Our models have been in agreement with this report, and continue to do so. As the starting quarterback for San Francisco this season, we currently project Kaepernick to throw 493 passes (54.52 completion percentage) for 2,979 yards with 14.43 touchdowns and 14.44 interceptions.