Colin Kaepernick is still without an NFL team and fellow former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana doesn’t seem all that surprised. Speaking at an event Tuesday, Montana said that Kap may make an NFL roster because of injury, but that he hasn’t played to the level of a successful NFL quarterback.
“I’m not sure, I think there’s an injury somewhere he probably gets in,” Montana told the Sporting News. “In most cases, you look at Tim Tebow — a great guy and everybody was talking about him. But what it comes down to is 40 percent completion or even in the low 50s, you can’t win in the league with that. You won’t be in the league very long. It comes down to his play as much as anything.”
Montana also commented on Kaepernick’s protest of the National Anthem last season, something he believes was a distraction and that would not have flown under Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh. Montana says the 49ers needed to make changes after last season, in part because of Kaepernick.
“Everyone thinks it is the stance he took; one of the things you don’t look for is distractions in the locker room,” Montana said. “You can go back to Bill Walsh and as soon as there were guys that weren’t fitting in what he was looking for, it didn’t matter how good you were. You weren’t on the team for very long. You have to have people who want the same thing, fighting for the same thing and willing to put in the time.
“I think changes were necessary there. I think it will take a year or so to get those guys understanding the system, how it works. I think there was a lot of loss for the game over the past few years with all the distractions, with Colin and all those things.”
In addition to letting Kaepernick walk, the 49ers fired both head coach Chip Kelly and general manager Trent Baalke at the conclusion of the disappointing 2-14 season.
“They needed to clean house (and get) a different atmosphere in that building.”