Blaine Gabbert, Said To Be Better Than Colin Kaepernick, Now His 49ers Backup

Blaine Gabbert was just traded to the San Francisco 49ers from the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick. That now means Blaine Gabbert, who was said to be the best QB coming out of the 2011 NFL Draft, is officially a bust and a reclamation project.

The man, the 10th pick of the 2011 NFL Draft and who I said, and wrote over at SFGate.com, was not – I repeat, not – better than Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick, who was then the San Francisco 49ers second round pick in the same NFL Draft 2011, is now his backup.

That’s right. After the 2011 Senior Bowl, I wrote that Colin Kaepernick was better than Blaine Gabbert over at SFGate.com. Here’s what I said:

Let’s get this out there: Blaine Gabbert is not a better quarterback than Nevada Quarterback Colin Kaepernick (in photo). Period. And since Mr. Kaepernick’s projected for the 2nd round of the NFL Draft, there’s no logical reason Mr. Gabbert should be ahead of him. That’s too much money to spend for someone who’s not going to immediately start and lacks Cam Newton’s intangibles.

You say Gabbert’s got size at 6’5; Colin Kaepernick’s 6’6. You tell me Gabbert had a 127 passer rating in 2010? Well, Kaepernick was never below a 132 rating for his entire college career. Ok, now you point to “character,” well, Kaepernick’s got that too, though frankly “character” is overrated.

Oh, for those of you who’ve not met Blaine, here’s an introduction video, of sorts, from me, and from the 2011 NFL Draft:

Blaine Gabbert was the heralded golden child and anointed 2011 NFL Draft number one pick for the Carolina Panthers before the draft even started.

NFL Agent from CAA Tom Condon’s prized client was the focus of a ton of concentrated and apparently slanted (and paid for?) content that was both favorable to him, and in many cases damning and racist toward Cam Newton.

It was so bad that this blogger took aim at USA Today Reporter Jim Corbett for, well, this is what I wrote over at SFGate.com:

The 2011 NFL Draft is taking a turn for the worst. “Dog Whistle” racism’s playing a role in this year’s draft, with some unlikely names using the tactic to advance their own favorite quarterbacks. The question is why, and why is the USA Today the publication at fault?

In the USA Today NFL Draft Special Edition for the 2011 NFL Draft, two articles, both by USA Today Reporter Jim Corbett, have so much misinformation on Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy Winner of last year, especially when compared with Missouri Quarterback Blaine Gabbert, that the work winds up reading like a marketing puff-piece for Gabbert, rather than a valuable, informative document.

And when USA Today NFL Draft Special Edition is not pumping up Gabbert with inflated claims, the articles compare Newton with black quarterbacks of years past, rather than his contemporaries of today, which happen to be white.

This awful work of fiction, which you can get at Chicago O’Hare Aiport’s Hudson News Stand, hits its stride on page 4, when Corbett uses a quote that Gabbert’s a “traditional pocket passer.” Everyone who’s seen Gabbert play knows that, like Cam Newton, he played in a shotgun-spread offense, with Gabbert five yards back from the center. The term “traditional pocket passer” implies throwing after dropping back from under center, something Gabbert did not regularly do at Missouri.

Then, Corbett uses ESPN’s Mel Kiper to aim one of a couple of hum-dinger, head-scratcher negative statements about Newton and about Gabbert. On Gabbert, Kiper obviously never watched him play at Missouri, because Kiper said that Gabbert struggled on third down completions in college because he “didn’t have Daranio Alexander (Rams wideout). He didn’t have Jeremy Macklin, (Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver). The receiving corps wasn’t nearly what it used to be at Missouri.”

Really?

If that’s the case, Kiper’s not watched any tape on Gabbert at all. If he did, he’d have to note that Gabbert has a tendency to fail to quickly find the “hot” receiver when he’s being rushed on third down. That’s not the receivers fault at all. It’s also not the formation itself, as Mizzou commonly throws out of five receiver sets, at times with four receivers on one side of the ball.

Even with that, Gabbert’s performance on third down hasn’t been great; blaming the Missouri receivers for this is misinformation. But then Kiper talking about Gabbert not having NFL receivers is just making excuses for Gabbert’s poor performance in that area. Now Kiper sounds like a homer rather than a Draftnik.

And I went on. I had to. In 2011, The NFL Draft mainstream media was falling all over itself to praise Gabbert and Damn Cam Newton. NFL Network’s Mike Mayock went so far as to question Cam Newton’s heart, a take that, with everything else, divided the media racially…

But all of that came to an end when the Carolina Panthers picked Cam Newton number one. And in his rookie ywar of 2011, Newton set the rookie record for passing yards and proved Mike Mayock, and everyone else, wrong. Then, in his third year, when a star is supposed to become a star, Newton led his Panthers to the NFC First Round Divisional Playoff Game against the San Francisco 49ers, at home, and lost a game they should have won.

Meanwhile Blaine Gabbert has played exactly the way many critics said he would play: not mobile, too quick to duck when rushed, can’t make a quick throwing decision. Part of it’s the scheme, but the other part is coaching.

Now, Blaine Gabbert’s behind Colin Kaepernick. That’s the way it should have been in 2011. It’s funny how God works.

Now, the next step is for the 49ers to give Colin Kaepernick the contract he so rightly deserves.

Stay tuned.