Things haven't quite gone swimmingly for the 49ers and quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2015, as evidenced by his 32nd-ranked passer rating and 1-4 record through five weeks.
With his massive potential, and career accolades prior to his regression, many have recently felt the need to weigh in on his performance, including former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana and Kaepernick's head coach at Nevada, Chris Ault.
Now Pro Football Hall of Famer and 49ers great Steve Young, a former quarterback most stylistically similar to Kap, chimed in with his thoughts.
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"If Colin knows where to go with the football when it hits his hands, it works out great," Young told KNBR, via Bay Area Sports Guy. "If he’s not sure, and now when it hits his hands he has to figure it out, that’s higher degree, higher level kind of computing, as far as software of quarterbacking. And that’s where things were going haywire."
[MAIOCCO: Kaepernick: I'm not huge on mechanics]
Young, of course, is referring to one of Kaepernick's biggest criticisms as a player, which is his field vision and progressing through all of his reads.
"[Kaepernick] wants to catch it and know where it’s headed," Young said. "That’s an easier thing to defend over time, because you know that you can mess with that.
San Francisco 49ers
"You break it down to hardware and software. And hardware—Colin’s like No. 1. Right? Ability to throw the football, strength, speed, agility, athleticism, arm strength, everything. Hardware’s best in the league. The software is where we kind of have to develop over time an ability—and it’s high-level computing."
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Young dives further, discussing the theory of translating practice to game day—a more relaxed, yet competitive environment vs pressure moments against aggressive and often unfamiliar defenses.
"There’s guys I know that were super smart. This is not about IQ now, by the way. I know super smart, high-IQ guys that could turn over data really fast, but then under pressure completely collapse."
Kaepernick has put together two solid performances through five games, where he threw four touchdowns and no interceptions (Week 2 at Pittsburgh, Week 5 at New York). San Francisco lost both games.
The other three combined, Kap had zero touchdowns and five interceptions, with all five picks coming in back-to-back games. His 76.8 QB rating ranks 32 out of 34 eligible quarterbacks (there are only 32 NFL teams), which is the lowest rating of his career as a four-year starter.