While the fans at Levi’s Stadium Thursday night started chanting in support of Colin Kaepernick supplanting Blaine Gabber as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, the players may be leaning in a different direction, according to the latest report out of the locker room.
CSN Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco cites a locker-room source as saying “Ponder is the best option for quarterback on the roster” and writes that some offensive players want Ponder to take the starting job from Gabbert over Kaepernick, who’s currently No. 2 on the depth chart.
Maiocco’s report continues with a note that one player expressed concerns about Kaepernick’s inability to put on weight since dropping pounds during the offseason.
Ponder, 28, signed with the 49ers on Aug. 16 and owns a QB rating of 75.9 over four seasons (38 games) with the Minnesota Vikings.
Gabbert won the starting job basically by default, as Kaepernick was slow to recover from offseason surgeries, but has looked lost under center as the 49ers have lost four straight since opening the season with a win over the Los Angeles Rams.
For the first time all season, Chip Kelly was non-committal when asked about Gabbert’s hold on the starting job after Thursady night’s ugly 33-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.