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Jim Harbaugh: Extension for Colin Kaepernick a “high priority”

NFC Championship - San Francisco 49ers v Atlanta Falcons

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 20: Head coach Jim Harbaugh talks with quarterback Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers in the third quarter while taking on the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game at the Georgia Dome on January 20, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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Even though his own contractual future is not clear, 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh wants his quarterback situation to be well-defined.

Harbaugh told Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com that an extension for Colin Kaepernick was a “high priority.”

“The priority is Colin Kaepernick is a San Francisco 49er for however long we can have him be a San Francisco 49er. It’s definitely a high priority,” Harbaugh said. “Amazing individual. Amazing player. He shows up and works all the time. There’s really nobody to compete with him in a workout situation. He will bury everybody. And then when somebody tries to compete with him, he just ramps his competitiveness up and somebody’s over there on a knee throwing up.”

Kaepernick is entering the final year of his rookie contract, which will pay him $1.073 million, or about half his backup Blaine Gabbert’s $2.011 million this year.

But with the dollars it will take to achieve that extension and Harbaugh’s uncertain future with the club, it’s hard to tell if the decision-makers there have assigned the same importance to a deal now.