Lowell Cohn: 49ers should make the most of sudden interest in Colin Kaepernick

All of a sudden, Colin Kaepernick is a hot commodity.

The Broncos, Browns and Jets are salivating for him, according to reports. The Niners are not so much into the Salivation Department. They are more into the Sanitation Department - they want to throw out Kaepernick. For the right trade, of course.

Let’s be grown up about this. Does the interest of these teams in Kaepernick mean, 1) Kaepernick really is a good quarterback, 2) These three organizations think they can transform him into a good quarterback?

The answers are No and Yes.

Around here, we know Kaepernick had a crummy season in 2015 because we saw him have it. And then we saw him get benched for Blaine Gabbert, a nice man who, in his entire career, will be a quarterback footnote. Never the main text. The footnote beat out Kaepernick. On merit. Geesh.

So, what’s the cause of all this Kaepernick interest?

Desperation. That’s the cause. Pure desperation. Let’s examine the desperation team by team.

The Browns: They are a wretched football outfit. Call them the wretched of the Earth. Last season, they won three games - one win came against the 49ers. That was the living end for the Santa Clara contingent.

The Browns quarterback is Johnny Manziel. Sort of. The guy can’t stay out of trouble, and almost surely has a drinking problem. Whatever his issue is, no sane football organization can depend on him to study his playbook or be ready to play. Although he’s called Johnny Football, a better name would be Johnny Screwball.

A team with Manziel must look at Kaepernick and think he’s an upgrade. Which he is. Kaepernick has won lots of games and went to the playoffs where he won and went to the Super Bowl where he almost won. Although at the end, with those repetitive crummy passes to Michael Crabtree, he flopped. And has more or less flopped since then.

But, OK, from the standpoint of Manziel, Kaepernick looks great to the Browns.

Same goes for the Broncos. Maybe their situation is even more interesting. The Broncos just won the Super Bowl. They want to win another in their window of opportunity. We all know how fast those windows shut. They expected to have Brock Osweiler. Surprise, he left for Houston. Leaving Denver with no starting quarterback. Uncomfortable position for the world champs.

Desperation. Except that Denver won the Super Bowl with a quarterback who wasn’t that good. Peyton Manning. All-time great quarterback, sure, but not great last season. We saw that in the Super Bowl.

So, the Broncos want Kaepernick - may want him - because they need a veteran who is at least capable of doing basic quarterback things. They sure don’t want a rookie to run the team. They have the best defense in football and if their quarterback is a mere game manager, that wouldn’t be so bad. Imagine Kaepernick descending to mere-game-manager status.

The Jets case is the most puzzling. They already have a very good quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick. But the team and the quarterback are arguing about money. If the Jets can’t agree with Fitzpatrick, they may trade for Kaepernick. Or it’s possible they don’t want Kaepernick and are using him as leverage against Fitzpatrick to get him nervous so he’ll sign.

Gee, are teams really that devious?

That brings us to Point Two. Do these teams actually think they can make Kaepernick a good quarterback?

Heck, yes.

Kaepernick appears to have everything. Great athlete. Great body. Super-fast runner. Cannon arm. Took a team to the Super Bowl. Things just went off the rails with San Francisco. Can happen.

A quarterback guru like Cleveland coach Hue Jackson is in love with Kaepernick, what he can turn Kaepernick into. And even a Hall of Fame quarterback like John Elway, who runs the show in Denver, must think Kaepernick still has potential even though he’s 28 and his train, including caboose, left the station a long time ago. Left the station empty.

Kaepernick the Illusion will bring down any team he goes to. The Niners already know that. Some other team will find out soon enough. And here’s what will happen. Kaepernick will end up being the “bridge” quarterback, the bridge to whatever rookie the Browns and Broncos draft this year. Unclear what the Jets will do. It’s come to that. Colin the Bridge.

What could the Niners get for him? The key question.

What the 49ers got for Alex Smith amounted to two second-round picks, which became five picks - don’t worry your head how. Two of those five picks were Carlos Hyde and Chris Borland. Trent Baalke gets praise for that.

Could the Niners get, say, one second-round pick for Kaepernick, even though he hasn’t been playing well and Smith had played extremely well before San Francisco traded him?

Yes. The 49ers, who are asking for a second-round pick from Denver, may get a second-rounder for Kaepernick. Why? Because three teams appear to be bidding on him. And that drives up his value. And that works in the 49ers’ favor. Baalke, you can bet, is going gaga over the interest in Kaepernick.

Final point. It’s not in Baalke’s interest to trade Kaepernick to the Broncos, where Kaepernick would love to go. Baalke will look bad if Kaepernick does well in Denver, aided by that great defense and the high level of offensive playmakers. Even with Kaepernick, even if Kaepernick has a bad passer rating, the Broncos might win the Super Bowl, and Baalke would take heat.

Better for Baalke to trade with the horrible Browns. To condemn Kaepernick to Cleveland, which has no offensive line or receivers. Banish him to Cleveland, where he won’t show up Baalke.

The Browns, almost surely, will give a high draft pick for Kaepernick. The Niners need a high pick. They were crummy last season and they will be crummy next season - face it. And they sure don’t need Kaepernick.

Even with him, they’re not going anywhere.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.