With signs pointing to Jim Harbaugh becoming the next Minnesota Vikings head coach, could he reunite with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick?
Part of the intrigue the Minnesota Vikings have in Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh as their next head coach has to do with the success he was able to have during his time with the San Francisco 49ers. Harbaugh’s most successful season as the head coach of the 49ers came in 2012 when he and quarterback Colin Kaepernick led San Francisco to a spot in the Super Bowl.
Since that 2012 season, both Harbaugh and Kaepernick have seen their lives go down very different paths. But could they reunite in Minnesota if the Vikings decide to hire Harbaugh as their new head coach?
Kaepernick hasn’t played in an NFL game since the 2016 campaign, but his former coach has been known to think outside of the box at times when it comes to figuring out ways to win as many games as possible.
Could Jim Harbaugh and Colin Kaepernick bring their San Francisco 49ers magic to the Minnesota Vikings?
Harbaugh was hired to be the 49ers head coach in 2011, which also happened to be the year that San Francisco drafted Kaepernick. During the pre-draft process, Harbaugh saw something in the former Nevada quarterback that others didn’t, so the 49ers took a chance on him.
Midway through his second season in the NFL, Kaepernick took over as San Francisco’s starting signal-caller, and he never gave the job back. During his third year, he and Harbaugh helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
In 39 starts with Harbaugh as his head coach in San Francisco, Kaepernick helped the team win 64 percent of their games. During his two seasons without Harbaugh as the head coach of the 49ers, Kaepernick was only on the winning side of the field for 16 percent of his starts (19 starts in 2015 and 2016).
Kaepernick was so much more successful during his time in San Francisco with Harbaugh as the head coach because the team used his unique skill-set to their advantage. During his first few years with the 49ers, Kaepernick’s ability to chuck the ball deep down the field and make plays with his legs made him one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the entire NFL.
The former San Francisco quarterback is now 34-years-old, and a few months ago, he shared that he still has the desire to play in the NFL again. In an interview with Ebony.com in November, Kaepernick said he’s still “training five, six days a week making sure [he’s] prepared to take a team to a Super Bowl again.”
At this moment, the Vikings are not in need of a starting quarterback with Kirk Cousins still under contract until 2023. However, with Sean Mannion hitting free agency this year, Minnesota could be in the market for a No. 2 quarterback behind Cousins for the 2022 season depending on how they feel about Kellen Mond.
If Harbaugh ends up as the head coach of the Vikings, could he put in a call to his old friend Kaepernick, someone who Harbaugh believes deserves another shot in the NFL, to come and be the team’s No. 2 quarterback on their 2022 roster?