FanPost

Is Colin Kaepernick on an island in the locker room?

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

I have read a lot of comments saying Colin Kaepernick is a "cancer" in the locker room. But I have not read anyone giving much credence to this fact. The problem we have is with "coach speak" and "player speak."

Neither coaches nor players want to be a part of any type of locker room division. As a result we may not get the actual truth. We can try and decipher what we read and see if we can make sense of anything. After Googling, "Colin Kaepernick locker room," I found a few articles concerning this subject.

The first article was from Jay Glazer at Fox Sports last October saying Kaepernick was "on an island" in the locker room. The quarterback was coming off a dreadful performance in a Thursday night loss to the Seahawks. His offensive line didn't do him any favors as they allowed six sacks:

"His confidence is completely shot," Glazer wrote. "It's not that (the players) don't like him. But he's just alone, on an island in that locker room. There's not a lot of people he connects with. Confidence-wise he's just buried right now."

Kaepernick had signed a team-friendly, seven-year, $126 million contract before the start of the 2014 season, but that doesn't mean the 49ers plan to move on from him, according to Glazer. "They can move on from him at the end of the year provided he is not injured," Glazer reported. "That's not the team's mindset. They look at him and say, 'This is the same guy that took us to the Super Bowl.'"

My thoughts: The first thing I notice is that I did not read a single quote from anyone except Jay Glazer. To me that means he is stating his opinion. Maybe he observed something? I don't know.

The second article came from Taylor Price, a senior reporter at 49ers.com and was in reference to the Glazer report.

"Reports don't bother me," Kaepernick said from the podium inside of Levi's® Stadium to a room full of Bay Area scribes. "My relationship with my teammates is great. That's all I'm worried about. What the perspective is outside the locker room really has nothing to do with me or this team."

Fellow teammate Torrey Smith added that the locker room was not divided.

"First of all, our locker room is straight," Smith said. "Everyone is in here fighting for each other, and we all want to win. There's no secret to it. We all want each other to be successful. Kap isn't on a damn island or whatever someone says. We're here together. We're trying to win together."

Coach Jim Tomsula had added that there's "always something" when "you're the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers."

To his credit, Kaepernick answered every challenging question in his weekly pregame press conference. Topics ranged from his relationships with teammates to how he was handling the commentary from the national media.

"I think people are trying to find something that's causing turmoil within this team, but the rumors don't need to be spread," said backup quarterback at the time, Blaine Gabbert. "They are not true. That's all there really is to say about it. "To really spend any time on that, it's pointless."

Kaepernick pointed to himself as someone who can do more to help San Francisco pick up a much-needed road victory. The 49ers had lost five consecutive road games dating back to last season, but had won two straight games in the Edward Jones Dome.

My thoughts: This article seemingly debunks the previous article by Glazer. How much is "player and coach speak?" Again, I have no idea. At least we do have some quotes from players and coaches. We have read two articles now that show two vastly opposite opinions. I felt like I needed another article. This article comes from Niners Nation and is also in response to Glazer. It's a good read and brings a little more insight to Kap's locker room situation:

"Shortly after Glazer's report, Kyle McLorg of Bay Area Sports Guy reported a Aldon Smith-Nessa love triangle was contributing to Kaepernick's unpopularity in the locker room. This story had been floated on gossip sites shortly after Smith's final arrest with the 49ers. Since those gossip reports, Niners Nation has had credible sources come forward with insight on the issue. Apparently, since joining the Raiders, Smith has been openly telling his teammates (and anyone who will listen) the story is indeed true, and it is one of the main reasons he had to be cut. However, it has been my impression he is airing the dirty laundry in part to gain some credibility with his new teammates, and trying to mitigate the countless mistakes he made while on with the 49ers' organization.

According to another source, Kaepernick is a very private guy. He will not engage with teammates about his personal life and he will not indulge in the locker room banter or speak about his relationship with Nessa. This issue, along with his performance on the field, has allegedly led some players to disconnect from Kaepernick altogether. It entered a grey area of personal life vs. professional life, so we had stayed away. As more information has come out however, it seems to be becoming a proverbial elephant in the room.

In spite of these reports, players have spoken out in Kaepernick's defense, offering him support. On Monday, Matt Maiocco reported Kaepernick has received a lot of support from key players, including Anquan Boldin. We know from watching the games, when Kaepernick is playing well, he is jovial on the sidelines. Those instances would not indicate the 49ers quarterback is "on an island", by himself. However, when the offense performs badly, Kaepernick is a bit reclusive and perhaps self quarantines as a way to deal with the loss. Kaepernick has a significant social media presence, and of course plenty of endorsement, but that belies a person who is relatively quiet in nature."

My final thoughts: Losing wreaks havoc on a football team. Fortunately for us, the Broncos don't have many losing seasons. Our biggest gripe is how we can lose Super Bowls so handedly.

How many teams out there would love just to be in a Super Bowl or even a playoff game, let alone win one? We have to go back to that coach who turned our franchise upside down - Josh McDaniels. (sorry, I know I'm suppose to watch my language, but...)

Our front office was a mess. Our world as fans was a mess. Most of us believed that was the beginning of Armageddon. That was after just 1 and 3/4 seasons. Because of the McDaniels fiasco, we did get John Elway, and he brought us Von Miller.

A year ago, the 49ers were a mess. They hired Tomsula to replace a coach that took them to the Super Bowl. Back to Kaepernick. He is not perfect in how he handled various situations, but I did not read anywhere that he threw his teammates under the bus. I did read that he pointed to himself as needing to step up his game. I also read where he isolated himself on the sideline when losing but when winning he was jovial.

As a QB maybe he needs to be rallying his team together when they are losing. Every team has more than one leader. He can be better as a leader, but that is something you learn through trials. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

At this point we have no idea if Kaepernick will end up a Bronco. He is a talented QB who has some things to improve on. I don't see him as being a cancer in the locker room. He needs to be put in a good situation with a team built around him.

I would welcome him as a Bronco.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.