The key to Colin Kaepernick's success in 2015 will be determined by his ability to think like a quarterback, his mentor says.
CSNBayArea.com reported that two-time NFL MVP Kurt Warner appeared on The SiriusXM Blitz radio program with 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon to talk about Kaepernick, whom Warner helped mentor for the last 10 weeks in Arizona.
Warner, who last week told NFL.com that Kaepernick needed to figure out a balance between when to assume a quarterback role and when to assume an athlete role, changed his tune somewhat in his conversation with Gannon.
Kaepernick has to be a quarterback first.
Kurt Warner sees seeds of pocket-passing prowess in Colin Kaepernick at flag-football game
"He can't do all the running," Warner said during the interview with Sirius. "Now he's got to become more of a pass-first guy and complement with his athleticism. And he's never been asked to do that before. And so that's the process that we kind of went through in the couple of months I was working with him.
"Really trying to get his normal to be a quarterback position as opposed to being an athlete - you know, thinking first as a quarterback and staying in a more throw-friendly position longer so he can get through his progressions and he can be comfortable and he can stay accurate . . . down through his reads. As opposed to looking at one guy and going, 'OK, now I can create like I've done in the past.' So that's the kind of the process we went through."
Warner spent 10 sessions with Kaepernick, who worked with quarterback trainer Denis Gile for the past 10 weeks working on his pocket-passing skills.
"The hardest thing, I told him early on, was he's going to have to figure out where that process goes," Warner said. "How long do I stay a quarterback before I need to become an athlete? For me, it was quarterback 24/7. There was no athleticism there. I'm a quarterback and I'm looking to throw.
"These guys who are so talented have to find that timing where it's quarterback for this long, and then I become an athlete. And I think that's one of the hardest things for guys like yourself, Rich, that can move and create, is how long do I stay a quarterback within a particular play, what read do I get to before now I can become the athlete that has made me so special and can make me so dynamic."
Ironically, that was what Jim Harbaugh tried and received criticism in not preparing Kaepernick for last season, in which he posted his lowest quarterback rating in his three years as a starter.
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