49ers’ Colin Kaepernick done for season because of shoulder injury

Kaepernick will see respected specialist Dr. Peter Millett in Vail, Colorado, on Tuesday, and the expectation is that he’ll have surgery to fix a fully torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder that day. “The medical staff said it was in the best interest to step back and get (surgery) done”.

The rise of Kaepernick was one of the most interesting National Football League stories over the past couple of years. The 49ers will reportedly explore trade options again before April and Kaepernick is also open to moving elsewhere to have a fresh start.

Per Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee, Kaepernick originally hurt the shoulder in Week 4 vs. Green Bay, though the extent of the injury wasn’t known until a recent MRI.

Kaepernick’s contract calls for him to earn a significant sum if he suffers a career-ending injury, which this does not appear to be.

Because of Kaepernick’s struggles, he lost the starting job to Gabbert during their Week 9 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, which they surprisingly won, considering the season the Falcons are having. The 49ers initially thought it was a minor injury that would heal but Kaepernick asked for a second opinion when his shoulder still hurt him during the 49ers’ Week 10 bye. He has run for 1,832 regular-season yards and 11 touchdowns, including 256 yards and one touchdown this season. Thompson admitted that verbiage he learned at SC would mean something different in Chryst’s scheme with the 49ers. The 49ers managed only three rushing first downs and a total of 59 yards on the ground, the latter being about what Seattle backup-turned-starter Thomas Rawls averaged each quarter. And they’ll have to eat the money if they can’t find him a landing spot and/or he fails a physical.

Last week Draughn had 12 rushes for 37 yards and he also added eight catches for 40 yards out of the backfield. The highlight of yet another consistent effort across the board in special teams was a hard hit by Quinton Patton on Tyler Lockett shortly after the Seattle punt returner handled a Bradley Pinion kick.

There was no penalty and Matthews was not fined.

Why go for it on fourth down, trailing your bitter rival by 16 points in the final minutes, when you can punt two more times and make sure the Seahawks can’t score a bunch more points?

What began with an incredible display in 2012 coming off the bench to replace Alex Smith… under Harbaugh… and led to a Super Bowl trip and another NFC championship game appearance…is broken asunder.