The San Francisco 49ers are very pleased with the starting quarterback they have now in Colin Kaepernick after he led them to the Super Bowl last season, but when Alex Smith still had a lock on the starting position the team contemplated trading him to the Philadelphia Eagles and that could have altered recent NFL history.
According to ESPN.com, there's a chance that Kaepernick could be running the wild Chip Kelly offense in Philly, as the Eagles looked into the possibility of trading for the quarterback and it actually almost went down. The report says that before the 2012 draft last year, sources said that Philadelphia was willing to part with their second round pick in the draft for Kaepernick, but eventually backed out of the deal after feeling they would be in position to draft Russell Wilson, who they would later try to build their team around. Obviously that idea didn't work out well either, as the Seattle Seahawks snagged Wilson in the third round and now he is the clear starter in Seattle and led his team to the playoffs.
The Eagles instead drafted Nick Foles and according to the report, the team was not as high on Foles as they were on Wilson, although at the time Andy Reid liked Foles. The team has a new coach in Kelly and while they don't have either Kaepernick or Wilson, one can wonder infinitely about the possibilities of either quarterback playing for the team last season and especially now with Kelly in the fold, as Michael Vick has looked great in his offense and Kaepernick likely would thrive as well.
Wilson and Kaepernick have already played against each other as opponents in the NFC West and they faced off on Sunday night football in Seattle. The connections between the teams and quarterbacks doesn't stop with the story either, as ironically enough, Alex Smith was eventually traded to Andy Reid and the Chiefs for.....a second round pick. Both Kaepernick and Wilson are looked at as two of the best young starters in the league and their teams are looked at as the favorites in the NFC this season to make the Super Bowl.
Kaepernick took over for Smith last season after he was injured and then head coach Jim Harbaugh decided to keep the ball in the hands of the player he previously traded up to take in the draft. Kaep showed why Harbaugh liked him so much and may have helped transform the NFL in the process after rushing for a record amount of yardage on his way to the Super Bowl and now the 49ers are a perennial favorite out of the NFC.
