49ers place Colin Kaepernick on injured reserve

The move comes as a bit of a surprise, since Kaepernick wasn’t listed as being injured when he was benched earlier this month for Blaine Gabbert. This week, though, he was listed as having a shoulder injury, but was probable on the injury report, and then was placed on injured reserve.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the move came at Kaepernick’s request.

There has been conflicting information out there as to when Kaepernick sustained the injury. The 49ers said they only heard about the injury after the bye week, but somebody close to Kaepernick told Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area that Kaepernick first complained about shoulder soreness following an Oct. 4 game against the Green Bay Packers.

Kaepernick then started four more games. By that point, Kaepernick’s pain was “unbearable,” according to Mindi Bach of CSN Bay Area.

The team gave him an MRI after the bye week and Kaepernick sought a second opinion, at which point he was told there was a significant tear to his labrum, according to the report. Team doctors confirmed the diagnosis of a labrum tear and he will have surgery.

The recovery time is where this gets interesting for the 49ers going forward. Its likely that Kaepernick is done in San Francisco, but his $11.9 million salary for 2016 is fully guaranteed for injury. Otherwise, the amount becomes guaranteed on April 1, a date by which the 49ers would almost assuredly trade or release Kaepernick were he not injured.