Kaepernick remains calm at center of storm

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Everybody crowded around him again, but Colin Kaepernick didn’t hold a formal media availability at his locker inside Levi’s Stadium on Tuesday.

Instead, he laughingly declared that there was a transcript available from his Sunday marathon session answering any and all questions about his decision to remain seated for the national anthem.

Oh yes: The Transcript. Pretty famous and lively one.

Kaepernick wasn’t running away from the Anthem Issue, of course, especially with Thursday’s exhibition game in San Diego coming up — and protests sure to surround it and him.

In fact, after the camera crews left, Kaepernick amiably hung around his locker and chatted informally with several of us, confirming for me that he has been a vegan for nine months and saying he feels great because of it.

But you could tell Kaepernick was ready for this to move forward to a new stage, with different questions.

And for the 49ers that means deciding if he’s going to be on this roster once they make their final cuts in the days following their preseason finale.

Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer and others have suggested that Kaepernick might be released for “football reasons,” not because of the anthem protest.

49ers executives and Kaepernick have wanted to end this relationship for months and this new development probably has not helped that.

But … can Kaepernick logically be released for football reasons when he’s essentially competing for a roster spot with late-round rookie Jeff Driskel and journeyman Christian Ponder?

Coach Chip Kelly doesn’t have the ultimate authority on the team’s roster — that’s general manager Trent Baalke’s call — but Kelly made it pretty clear that he still values Kaepernick.

Kelly hasn’t even officially named Blaine Gabbert the starter, though that formality is coming. Gabbert isn’t playing Thursday in a game that starters don’t usually play, and Kaepernick is playing, mostly with backups, because he’s the backup.

If he’s ahead of Driskel and Ponder, Kaepernick should make this team going into Week 1, right?

I asked Kelly, is Kaepernick currently one of the team’s best two QBs?

“Yes,” Kelly said.

Have you had any discussions about releasing Kaepernick?

“We haven’t had any discussions about the quarterback position so far,” Kelly said.

If it’s your decision, would this strictly be based on football judgments?

“It’s not up to me,” Kelly said. “And any decisions on this team are made through everybody.

“And I do not have control of the 53-man roster. So I don’t sit there and say, ‘This is the 53 we’re picking.’ It’s a group effort.”

So many things are happening all at once in 49ers land, with so many trip-wires and so little time before the start of the regular season.

But it’s safe to say that Kelly is noting that keeping Kaepernick would be the logical football move but that it’s Baalke (and owner Jed York) who will make the final determination.

Locker-room strife over Kaepernick’s stand? If it’s there, I haven’t seen it the last two times the media has been allowed in.

Kaepernick, after his chat with us on Tuesday, wandered over to laugh with several offensive linemen; it was as loose and comfortable as I’ve ever seen him around teammates, frankly.

“I think when you talk to our players, they’re focused on the 2016 season and how good a team the San Francisco 49ers can be,” Kelly said.

“And I think like we’ve said all along, we recognize his right to express his feelings. But that doesn’t affect what we do when we get here at 8:15 in the morning till we leave here at 8 o’clock at night.”

If you want to believe Kelly is subtly shifting responsibility on this hot-button decision to the front office, that’s a fair conclusion.

If you want to believe that Kelly just legitimately believes that Kaepernick is one of the QBs he wants to keep on the roster and is merely spelling out the reality of the 49ers power structure, that’s fair, too.

The 49ers are weird, have been weird for a while, and will assuredly remain weird for the foreseeable future.

And the Kaepernick situation is gasoline poured on top of their usual amount of brushfires, though he is the one who seemed calmest and most comfortable with all of it Tuesday.