SI: The 49ers intended to trade Kaepernick to Philly
 

Report: Eagles backed out of trade for Colin Kaepernick intending to draft Russell Wilson

BY BRIAN KOTLOFF

The Eagles reportedly had a trade in place to acquire Colin Kaepernick for a second-round pick last offseason.

The NFL’s top two emerging young quarterbacks apparently slipped through the Philadelphia Eagles’ grasp last offseason.

Prior to the 2012 NFL Draft, the Eagles came close to trading a second-round pick for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, but backed out of the deal thinking they could draft Russell Wilson, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The 49ers were open to trading Kaepernick because Alex Smith, who they eventually traded to the Chiefs, had led them to the NFC Championship Game in 2011.

But the Eagles’ decision backfired when the Seattle Seahawks selected Wilson with the 12th pick in the third round, forcing Philadelphia to settle for current backup Nick Foles 13 picks later.

According to the report, the Eagles had “geared their whole draft around” Wilson, who led the Seahawks to the playoffs during a spectacular rookie season in 2012.

Wilson and Kaepernick face off on Sunday Night Football this week, guiding what many consider the two best teams in the NFC.

http://tracking.si.com/2013/09/15/ea...?sct=obnetwork

good. **** em'

Interesting.

Interesting, but that actually makes Philly look pretty stupid on the surface. Take him in the second round if you truly have "geared their whole draft" around Wilson. Or, just trade for Kaep when it came to their pick in the second since Wilson was still there?

And just let me take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Chiefs took Donald Stephenson in the third round exactly one pick before Seattle took Wilson. :facepalm:

I'm still more disgusted KC took Jon Baldwin in the 1st when Colin Kaepernick was available.

Yeah, don't get me ****ing started on that, either.

I smell bullshit. Yeah! we really wanted those great young QBs!... but valued Mychal Kendricks more.

Someone got drunk and started talking out their ass

Strange, I heard all offseason Harbough didn't like Alex Smith.

In some past thread I said it was theoretically possible for us to have drafted both Kaepernick and Russell Wilson. But, had that happened, both of them would most likely be backing up Cassel this very day, or at the very least until Pioli got loaded up on the trebuchet and chucked into the middle of Raytown.

Piololololi.

I know that no one has reported it yet, but I was going to take the Chiefs HC position but politefully declined.

The implications are pretty interesting, IMO. If the 49ers had traded Kaepernick, Alex Smith would likely be in San Fran today. If the Eagles had traded for Kaep, it's likely Reid would still be in Philly.

At that point, no Reid, and no Dorsey in KC in 2013.

This was also reported by Adam Schefter so whoever is getting drunk and talking has all the right people in ear shot.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/po...had-kaepernick

You didn't read the SI article did you. Its all based on Schefter's report.

It's the Bernard Pollard Space/Time Continuum Theorum being applied to game changing QB's once again. This shit is CRAZY.

I knew us cheering Pollard knocking Brady out would **** us for life. So far it has.

So? 2 different media outlets are reporting it, you think they are just winging it?

Have you heard anyone deny this?

The report was on Countdown Sunday.

The Eagles had three picks in the first two rounds and passed on Wilson three times, and yet they "geared their whole draft around Wilson"? It sounds to me like the Eagles are revising history to their convenience.

Wilson went with the 75th pick, one selection after Scott Pioli took Donald Stephenson. The Eagles drafted DE Vinny Curry with #59, LB Mychal Kendricks with #46, and DT Fletcher Cox with #12. If you're building your whole draft around a QB, and picks 46 and 59 roll around, you're not taking LBs and DEs.

That seems pretty lame, dunno why everyone is reporting this then.

Value! Must follow the chart! Don't reach for a QB!

Bunch of bull if you ask me.

Yup.

That's precisely why this article is a sham. Nobody can believe you'd build a whole draft around a guy you won't even take in the 2nd, or trade guys/picks for in the 1st or 2nd.

Pretty much blows a hole in every "Kaepernick was always going to be the future" ranting from the Anti Alex Smith crowd.

Unless you're Rudy, he'll just discredit guys like Schefter, who are wrong once every 3 years.

See? just prior to 2011, every report was gushing with Jim loving Alex and asking him to return to SF. Then all season, Jim overly praised him. In 2012, it was more of the same.

Then when Alex was concussed... got better and was ready to come in? Jim stayed with Kaep, who was playing well.. but Alex was leading the league in passer rating and efficiency at the time of the concussion.

So then, it became a huge puzzle. Why was Jim ****ing his buddy over? Was Kaep Jim's guy all along, and Jim had to butter Alex up to keep him stop-gapping till Kaep was ready?

That's what I came to believe... even though there seemed to be a legitimate brotherhood between Alex and Jim.

Any smart 49ers here that have an insight to help?

It's the sources I don't trust, dumbass. This doesn't at all make sense.

I am absolutely convinced that Jim Harbaugh is a prisoner of the moment type......The more I think about it, if Alex Smith had not gotten that concussion, then Kaep is probably the one traded in the offseason and not Alex Smith.

That's because all the haters wanted to think that and there was nothing to suggest otherwise.

I'd like to point out that Alex and Harbaugh made a point of seeking eachother out in the pre-season game. Before everyone goes around saying what a great guy Alex is for putting his pride aside and being the bigger man, Alex never bothered with Nolan or Singletary...despite his comments that he harbored no ill will towards either.

Well, im not exactly an Anti Alex Smith guy.

And I too believe that Kaep was Jims guy, and that is backed up by what Jim told his dad the night after the first round was completed in 2011, about Kaep not only being the best qb in the draft class, but also being the best FOOTBALL PLAYER period.

Still.....Stunning that they would of had an offer on the table for Kaep.

just makes me take a step back and actually softens my stance on how much I felt that Jim had betrayed Alex Smith.

someone needs to do the 6 degrees of tom brady's knee getting blown out by pollard just to see how big of an effect it had on other teams.

That's pretty much where I'm at. With nothing to present as evidence, I've gone with the flow as far as "Kaep was always his guy". Just figured that Harbaugh was full of it and not to be trusted. It fit in perfectly with the whole Manning episode.

If it were true, why would Alex bother to go hang with him during the pre-season game like nothing happened? Maybe there was a push from Baalke?

How good is the source?

Why is this turning into an Alex Smith thread? And people complain about the anti-Smiths?

****, it's about some liquored up blowhard who got a case of revisionist history. 16 months is a long time for the old farts that run the front office.

Well,

Obviously KC getting Cassel.

But then you've got Chicago getting Cutler because he wet the bed after hearing about McD wanting Cassel in Denver.

Adam Scheffter

bad donkey.

Well, because people like yourself love to throw it up in peoples face how Alex Smith was tossed out on his ass. Now that there is a story coming out that perhaps that wasn't always the case, a stunning revelation actually, its going to turn that way.

What did you expect?

Wait a minute, pillowbitergot. I don't give two ****s about what some Harbaugh POS thinks about QBs. He has nothing to do with my opinion on Alex Smith. I don't care about your ****ing team or coach.


http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/searc...earchid=973415

I know this is being reported, but I have serious questions about the legitimacy of the story.

If you have plans centering around drafting player X, guess what you make sure ****ing happens? You draft player X, especially if he's a QB whom you view as a difference maker. You don't try to get that player in the most convenient round, by the cheapest way possible.

Then it is fairly likely then. He gets it wrong sometimes, but right more often than not.

Fine, you don't like Jim Harbaugh. You don't like Alex Smith either. So my point still stands. I love getting under turds like yours skin.

Having to result to petty insults. Pfff. Good luck with that. Cry some more will you? :deevee:

Now THAT, I tend to agree with. If Harbs was really thinking Kaep was that wonderful, he wouldn't have waited till rd 2 to swoop in.

Shrugs. There is lots of hyperbole. There was a lot during the 2012 offseason that made no sense. They had a contract on the table for alex smith for a couple of months. Jim had Alex accept his coach of the year trophy, Alex Smith caddied for Jim harbaugh at a golf tournament.

Then there was the Peyton scandal. I don't think anyone will ever know exactly what really happened. But, teams do have a draft board, and it is quite possible that they had Russell Wilson with a second round grade, but when he didn't go before then that they assumed incorrectly that they could grab him in the 3rd. Shrugs. No one will ever know.

Disagree. I think Jim saw the POTENTIAL in Kaepernick. But, Aldon Smith was a completely different animal all together.

There were no projections of Kaepernick going in the first round that I saw. Most saw him as a project qb.

I think he actually at the time went too high......

If you believe in a QB prospect, I think you draft him as soon as possible. How stupid would Philly look right now if they'd drafted Wilson in the first round? I think we all know the answer.

I'd rather be guilty of overdrafting someone by a round or two than to be the team talking about "what if..." just like the gutless, inept Eagles.

Papa Harbaugh told a story during the Super Bowl last year about a conversation he had with Jim before the draft in question. He asked Jim if he had targeted any quarterbacks, and Jim told him yes, that he wanted to draft the kid out of Nevada. So, if Papa Harbaugh wasn't lying, then Kaepernick was a priority for Jim Harbaugh, and then it seems pretty unlikely that he would want to trade him so quickly.

Same here. But point remains. If Harbs really wanted a QB and thought Kaep was the best QB in the draft? Then it's either Harbs thought the QB draft class sucked overall? or he would have moved up further to make sure he got his guy. So I'm not buying in 100% that he felt Kaep was a sure-fire QBotF. You don't take chances on losing that QBotF if you want him that badly... you go get him... and I mean in the 1st.

:hmmm:

I am officially confused.

Maybe, if the NFL existed in a vacuum.

If a prospect is universally seen as a third rounder and a front office takes him early in the first round, they're pretty much putting their own job and nearly every job in the entire franchise in jeopardy.

So with that being the case, do you really believe that you or anyone else would draft Russell Wilson, in 2012, in the first round, knowing that if he's a failure, you've jeopardized (if not altogether lost) your job, the jobs of the coaching staff, training staff, etc., not to mention, jeopardizing any likely possibility of ever becoming a GM of an NFL franchise again?

This. Smells like bullshit to this fat man.

It's clear from the article that Philly wanted an upgrade or alternative to Vick prior to the 2012 draft and season.

Philly had a deal in place for Kaepernick. But apparently, they chose to go with Wilson as their centerpiece. They assumed that Wilson would be available with their third round selection but he was chosen before the Eagles could take him.

The most interesting aspect of the Eagles part in this story is that Howie Roseman is still employed by the Eagles and Andy Reid is not.

Did Reid want Kaepernick but Roseman overruled him?

Did Reid want Wilson and was willing to gamble he'd be there in the third and Roseman obliged?

There are so many possibilities but this report, IMO, shows that teams operate much different than the general public imagines they operate.

I asked this question in 2009 when Whitlock said Pioli was an egomaniac and I asked the same question in 2011 when Kent Babb released his report on the drama at Arrowhead:

Why would Schefter lie? What does Adam Schefter gain by not double checking sources and publishing a false report?

Why is it so very difficult for fans to believe reporters?

I'm not saying no one called for it, but I'd love to see where people were posting their genuine breakdown of Kapernick as a major major sleeper worthy of the Chiefs 1st. Or, that he was poised to rise to his level of play now- because it seems like according to this article the niners didn't even know what they had and took a flyer on the guy.

Links?

I support Alex, but I dont know how much this says about either he or Kaep.

Teams probably have discussions about players or tentative deals going all the time, especially on draft day.

Given what they knew at the time, maybe they were prepared to go forward with Kaep but Philly had a blow-your-doors-off offer?

No one is ever really untradeable.

The article states Kaepernick for Philly's 2012 second rounder, #46 overall.

This is why the "Harbaugh absolutely loved Kaepernick" story was bullshit. If he loved him as much as the media expressed he never would have waited until the second to snag him, even if he had to trade up to do so.

Harbaugh and Carroll, like Belichick before them, were just really ****ing lucky.

If I remember right they traded up to get him in the second.

Possibly. Who ran the 9ers draft that year? We know Romeo loved him some Kaep as well but it wasn't his call to make.

I don't know if I'd go that far, at least regarding Pete. He stated throughout the 2012 offseason that there was going to be a true competition between Wilson and Flynn, despite the fact they gave Flynn a three year, $27 million dollar deal.

He said he really liked Wilson's competitiveness, didn't think his height would be a factor and thought he had plenty of arm strength.

Your first year coach that you just moved heaven and earth to get is getting a shitload of say in personnel decisions in offseason #1.

Think that was Haley.

Romeo? TBG's report stated that Haley and the Chiefs scouting department like Kaepernick.

Romeo was the defensive coordinator before 2011 draft.

He didn't want to draft Wilson. The GM overruled him. It's well-chronicled.

I don't recall that being the case. Maybe you're better at teh Googles than me but I found these articles, just after the 2012 draft, in which Pete gushes over Wilson and give him an opportunity to start.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-can-be-great/

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/79...eahawks-qb-job

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--ru...hawks-qbs.html

you can't get lucky if you don't draft one...been saying this for years, and luck is just as good as anything

bottom line, he drafted him, groomed him, and traded Smith....those are the facts

This is actually pretty ****ing hilarious, though slightly off-topic.

http://seattle.sbnation.com/2012/4/2...-2012-seahawks

Rob Rang gives the 2012 Seahawks draft a "C", Vinny Iver gives it a "D" and Kansas City's own Randy Covitz gives it a "D-".

LMAO

Correct. The 49er universe thought that Jims target had to be Dalton, and then when he went, the 49ers traded up, I doubt very few people really thought it was to get Colin Kaepernick. But the rumor was that Oakland was going to take him, so the 49ers made the move.

The silver lining here is that our current HC was definitely fishing for the right QBs.

Hey! A Jaye Howard sighting!

Yep, then gets to KC and reels in an old bud light can.

uh, he was fishing for Alex Smith while in Philly too!

Exactly, the point. It's revisionist history. All the talk of Harbaugh spotting this kid and knowing what no one else saw, is bullshit. Otherwise, you don't give him up for so little or even really entertain the idea bc if you knew his play potential and really believed that, it doesn't even get a serious discussion especially for a player whose position is by far and by a really large margin the most important position in today's NFL. Just like getting 2 seconds from us for Smith- so the 9ers deemed him of higher value? No, they simply had leverage based on the market, the Chiefs alt. Options and given the history of Andy's interest before, they could squeeze us simply because there were other teams in need of a qb and we needed to address this because thank god the new gm and coach understand the value of a qb unlike pioli refusing to admit his guy was a mistake and move on.

I wish he would have kept the same bait.

Right now there's a stereotype based on a misguided notion of "risk." For example, teams can draft RTs at 1/1 or centers in the first, but these same teams would get eviscerated for drafting a QB with questions like Wilson?

The answer is yes, they would, and that's just pure stupidity. Trust your talent evaluations, make the pick, and own the results. I hate this mindset of "safety" in the interest of job preservation.

No doubt it exists, though.

Understood. What it tells you about the three qbs that he was looking for.

he was looking for smart mobile guys. All three have that same quality.

Sorry, I got sidetracked by simultaneous tantrums.

This piece from NFL.com indicates that Carroll and Schneider disagreed over when to take him. Schneider wanted to pull the trigger in the 2nd. Carroll pushed for a defensive player instead.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...son-in-round-2

So, didn't want him at all was hyperbolic, but he wasn't the advocate of Wilson that the above makes it out to be, either.

Report: 2000 Chiefs backed out of talks with Green Bay involving a trade for Matt Hasselbeck. A source says the Chiefs decided to build their draft around QB Tom Brady, who was selected by the Patriots just 9 spots ahead of Kansas City

Makes sense though. Carrol is a defensive guy. Plus with all of the qbs being snagged up the need for teams at that point. Would be funny if they hadn't gotten Wilson though. How different the fortunes of teams would be.

Oh, I think he was an advocate but Pete's a defensive guy first and foremost. There is another article out there stating that Schneider went against his "gut" and took Wagner in the second instead of Wilson, but in the end, the Seahawks ended up with three great players.

There's no doubt it was aces for them, but the media culture of today is far too quick to crown genius and lament absolute incompetence, completely ignoring the luck factor that so often plays a part in personnel decisions.

Had some more critical reporters actually looked at how often luck plays in, you wouldn't have personality cults built around incompetent dipshits like Scott Pioli.

yup...that highly touted 6th rounder coming out of the draft.

I have no idea how even with the height, that Russell Wilson fell so far either way. Tannenhill was a converted wide receiver, Brandon Weeden is old as hell.

I have no idea how Wilson was ranked under them. ESPECIALLY BY CLEVELAND. With Holmgren who drafted SENECA WALLACE, AND COLT MCCOY.

I have no idea. It hurts, that entire draft hurts actually.