Colin Kaepernick has been practicing in full this week, but as has been his custom, 49ers coach Chip Kelly wouldn't say which of his quarterbacks would start the third preseason game Friday against the Packers.
"I know you guys don't like the answer," Kelly said Wednesday morning. "But we're going to do it the same way every time _ when we get to Friday we'll know exactly from Ferg (head athletic trainer Jeff Ferguson) who's up, who's down. If he's (Kaepernick) up, then he's going to play."
Kelly did say that Kaepernick, who missed the 49ers' first two preseason games with a sore throwing arm, has resumed splitting first-team repetitions with Blaine Gabbert in practice this week.
At one point this summer, Kelly said the plan was to give both quarterbacks first-team snaps in preseason games before deciding who starts the regular-season opener against Los Angeles on Sept. 12 at Levi's Stadium. That may still be the case.
"I would hope that, based on what he's (Kaepernick) done so far (in practice), that he is going to play," Kelly said.
With Kaepernick on the bench the first two exhibition games, Gabbert took all of the first-team snaps against the Texans and Broncos. In those two games he completed 10 of 19 passes for 132 yards, one touchdown and had a 92.4 passer rating. He hasn't been sacked or thrown an interception.
Of all the preseason games, the third week typically is considered the most important warm-up for the regular season and is the game in which starters play the most. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, for example, is expected to get his first and perhaps only preseason snaps Friday at Levi's Stadium.
Kaepernick, whose family is from Wisconsin, grew up a Packers fan and became famous in large part because of two dramatic wins against Green Bay in the 2012 and 2013 playoffs. In the most recent regular season, however, the Packers defense took a measure of revenge. It sacked Kaepernick six times in a 17-3 Green Bay win and left Kaepernick with a left shoulder tear that he eventually had surgically repaired.
