Jed York Won't Say Whether Colin Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert is Starting

49ers owner Jed York called into Rich Eisen’s show on Monday. Unsurprisingly, a large topic of conversation was Colin Kaepernick, who (along with the rest of his teammates) underwhelmed last season, before going on injured reserve in November to undergo surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.

There were very real questions about whether Kaepernick would be back with the team. He even met with John Elway this offseason, though obviously, since we’re here, a trade to Denver never materialized.

York twice wouldn’t answer whether he had a preference of Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert, saying that “beautiful thing about football is your performance speaks for yourself.” York said that he and Kaepernick “have always had a good relationship,” which is doubtful considering the leaks that were flying last year.

Nevertheless, given that the 49ers did not reach a trade agreement for Kaepernick, it would be relatively surprising if he did not at least begin this season as the starter. His base salary is $11.9 million and cap hit $15.9 million this year.

Early reports indicate Kaepernick “won” the QB battle on Monday, despite the fact that he was mostly playing with backups while Gabbert got a majority of the starter reps.

We have about a month of stories to slog through on this quarterback competition. Whoever ends up winning when the smoke clears, Chip Kelly’s offense will be very interesting to observe when the regular season mercifully begins.