Coach Jim Harbaugh has left the 49ers, but his influence remains. Sort of.
With Harbaugh as the coach, there were awkward moments during press conferences, both with Harbaugh and quarterback Colin Kaepernick. An awkward moment happened on Wednesday.
Via the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Kaepernick was asked about comments from new coach Jim Tomsula, who said that Kaepernick isn’t being asked to do anything he has been asked to do in previous years.
“I would say the biggest thing is I’m being asked to be myself this year,” Kaepernick said. “I don’t think anyone knows how to be myself better than me. It’s a comfort zone. It’s a situation where I’m not being asked to do things outside of my character.”
Next came the obvious follow-up: “Do you feel like you were asked to do things outside of your character?”
“Outside of how I would normally handle situations, yes,” Kaepernick said.
“Meaning, to be more specific, being in the pocket more?” he was asked. “Not getting outside? Is that what you’re getting at?”
“No,” Kaepernick said. “I’m getting at that I was asked to do things outside of my character.”
Then he was asked if it’s safe to say that he feels more relaxed in the pocket. And then he walked away without answering the question.
It’s still unclear what he’s talking about. But apparently there was some sort of an issue last year with Kaepernick being asked to behave in a way that wasn’t authentic, and now the race will be on to find out exactly what it was.