Colin Kaepernick sits during anthem, but could 49ers sit him, a la RG3, all season? (REPOST)

As the discussion of Colin Kaepernick’s future — slowly — returns to his football career, we wondered what might be next. Assuming he loses the starting battle to Blaine Gabbert, the San Francisco 49ers would find themselves in an interesting predicament.

Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson had an excellent take on Option 1 — releasing Kaepernick and what that might entail. Clearly, the 49ers are already in deep, with $11.9 million to be paid the QB’s way this season no matter what move they might make with him.

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But as that story also points out, Kaepernick’s injury history has not been the only limiting factor toward him winning the starting job. His lack of devotion to mastering Chip Kelly’s system after the coach reopened the door for Kaepernick has been a disappointment too.

Which brings us to a realistic possibility: Kaepernick spends the season as the No. 3 quarterback, a la Robert Griffin III last season with the Washington Redskins. The “how we got here” part is far different for each quarterback. But the “why” part absolutely has some overlap.

Griffin opened last preseason as the Redskins starter, having taking the majority of the reps in the offseason to that point. But it felt as if Redskins head coach Jay Gruden was determined to prove that RG3 was not the guy. He asked his quarterback to do things that were not in his wheelhouse, and when Griffin’s own failure to protect himself led to his getting injured, it was Kirk Cousins time — never to look back.

Sources have indicated that Griffin missed his protection call on the play on which RG3 got hurt last preseason, and it perhaps proved to Gruden that Griffin didn’t know the offense or function within it well enough for his demands, which was grounds for making a change.

Kaepernick finds himself in similar territory — with or without the anthem issue. He’s always banged up, hasn’t mastered the offense yet and now, by the way, has been made an enemy by some (and a hero by others), which puts extra strain on Kelly in his first year running the team.

So why not make Kaepernick the No. 3 all season? Some have floated the idea. (And yes, of course, the irony is rich: The 49ers sit him after Kaepernick sits.)

It has football merit if he’s not able to play effectively, and it has financial merit to protect the team in 2017 from having to pay a full injury guarantee if he’s hurt in a major way. And though the 49ers might never agree this was their intention, such a move would take Kaepernick somewhat out of the news cycle a bit, too, assuming they want this story to die down.

Has sixth-rounder Jeff Driskell done enough to be the game-day No. 2? He has been strong in practices, per reports, although his preseason game performances have been a bit up and down. Recent addition Christian Ponder is likely too much of an unknown, but what would it say if he made the opening 53-man roster? That likely wouldn’t portend much of a future in San Fran for Kaepernick.

Griffin suffered through his cryogenic year in Washington and now he’s getting a second chance in Cleveland. Perhaps that is Kaepernick’s fate in San Francisco this season. And everyone loves a redemption story, right?

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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