The 49ers say they want to keep Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick apparently wants otherwise.
More specifically, Kaepernick’s agents are now telling people that Kaepernick wants otherwise.
Multiple reports have emerged, both from NFL Media and ESPN, that Kaepernick’s agents have asked for permission to seek a trade. The reports are most likely (if not undoubtedly) coming from Kaepernick’s agents.
The 49ers have not yet responded to a request for comment from PFT, and it’s unclear whether either NFL Media or ESPN requested comment from the 49ers. Now that the Scouting Combine-related media availability of 49ers G.M. Trent Baalke and coach Chip Kelly has ended, there won’t be a quick and easy way to ask them about the reports until next month’s league meetings in Florida.
On Thursday, Kelly told reporters he’s convinced Kaepernick wants to play for the 49ers.
Whether Kaepernick’s agents have actually requested permission to seek a trade or have simply told reporters that they have, the cat is now out of the bag -- if it wasn’t already. Before the Super Bowl, the New York Daily News reported that Kaepernick wants out, and that he’d like to play for the Jets.
More recently, NFL Media reported this: “Even if Kaepernick has trust issues with the organization, he’s not pushing for a trade.”
With or without permission for Kaepernick to seek a trade, potentially interested teams now know there’s a reason to make a phone call to the 49ers, despite the fact that the 49ers have spent the last two days trying to create the impression that all is well.