EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Last week was a wild one for those keeping tabs on what will become of the relationship between the San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
At the NFL scouting combine, Niners general manager Trent Baalke proclaimed that he "absolutely" expects Kaepernick to be on San Francisco's roster on April 1 when Kaepernick's $11.9 million base salary becomes guaranteed.
Soon after, league sources revealed that Kaepernick's agents had requested permission to seek a trade. So, as one might expect, all is not well when it comes to the Kaepernick-Niners pairing.
As with all quarterbacks who could be available this offseason, speculation immediately began as to where Kaepernick could land. Likewise, the Los Angeles Rams were quickly linked to their NFC West division rival.
ESPN's John Clayton put together a list of teams that could have interest in Kaepernick with the Rams at the top.
As Clayton points out, Kaepernick could be an intriguing fit for the Rams, especially in their running game. The ability to use Kaepernick in conjunction with running back Todd Gurley and receiver Tavon Austin would allow the Rams a chance to be more diverse than ever in the run game. He wouldn't necessarily bolster their woeful passing attack, however.
When it comes to a potential trade, it seems unlikely the Rams would want to compensate the Niners and take on Kaepernick's salary unless they could convince coach Chip Kelly to reunite with Nick Foles. If they released Kapernick, it would make more sense. And, as Clayton also mentioned, San Francisco might not want to send Kaepernick to a division rival.
If nothing else, Kaepernick is yet another name to keep tabs on in the team's pursuit of quarterback help.
I.C.Y.M.I.
A roundup of the weekend's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... On Friday, we began with a look at the Rams' ongoing quarterback quandary and the lack of an obvious solution to fixing it. ... The Ram-blings began with the potential for major roster turnover this offseason. ... Cardinals reporter Josh Weinfuss and I discussed the emergence of the hybrid safety turned linebacker in the NFC West. ... The Rams would like to retain starting center Tim Barnes. ... In Saturday's mailbag, we tackled the possibility of the Rams appearing on HBO's 'Hard Knocks' this year. ... Sunday's mailbag began with an examination of Greg Robinson's progress and the Rams' intent to keep him at left tackle.
Elsewhere:
Here's the value of the franchise and transition tags for every position.
Redskins reporter John Keim offered a look at the difficulty in predicting Robert Griffin III’s landing spot.
Bill Barnwell writes that the quarterback class entering free agency is fascinating.
TheMMQB.com's Robert Mays explores the new usage of undersized but athletic linebackers.
In case you missed it, LATimes.com reports that the Oxnard City Council approved the Rams holding their offseason program in town.
At stltoday.com, Jim Thomas writes that Orlando Pace has chosen his son to present him at his Hall of Fame induction.