Matt Barrows from the Sacramento Bee reported that the San Francisco 49ers are looking for a late second or early third round pick for Colin Kaepernick.
It appears the Cleveland Browns are playing ball for that kind of compensation, but the Denver Broncos are holding out for their third rounder instead. The hold up for any trade, however, is Kaepernick's contract. The moneyball guys in Cleveland seem to think Kaepernick is only worth $7 or $8 million, which is well below what Kaepernick is scheduled to make if he stays put.
In my view, he would have to be crazy to take a 50% paycut to play somewhere else. That puts the Broncos in a better position to negotiate a deal closer to what the 49ers would take, but at this point it definitely looks like the Browns have the inside position for a potential Kaepernick trade.
If the rumors of Kaepernick wanting to play for the Browns are true, then he will need to take a substantial paycut. The game changer would be if John Elway puts the Broncos second round pick into the equation. Would you be okay with that, Broncos Country? They do have a lot of draft picks this year.
The Broncos have 10 total picks in this year's draft:
- Round 1: Pick 31
- Round 2: Pick 63
- Round 3: Pick 94
- Round 3: Pick 98 (compensatory)
- Round 4: Pick 136 (compensatory)
- Round 5: Pick 144 (from Baltimore in Gino Gradkowski trade)
- Round 6: Pick 219 (compensatory)
- Round 7: Pick 228 (from San Francisco in Vernon Davis trade)
- Round 7: Pick 235 (from Los Angeles via Houston in Chris Clark trade)
- Round 7: Pick 253