Colin Kaepernick Thread

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I'll offer what I see and address some of this "front foot" nonsense....

Ok, so, I notice a slightly wider base - which is good, he was a little narrow before, but it's not overly wide. One thing that I see is that his elbow is still a little low. If watch Tom Brady, Peyton manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Alex Smith throw, that elbow is above their shoulder. When your elbow is a little low, it causes the ball to sail on you a bit. But, it's not horrible, could be one reason CK tends to have a lot of balls batted down at the LOS

As far as footwork - much better. He's got good knee bend throughout his stepping motion. That knee bend is like a shock absorber on a car, it keeps everything nice and level. When he didn't have that knee bend it causes the spine to get out of position - it'll wobble back and forth, meaning he doesn't have great balance throughout his entire motion. Again, this can cause accuracy problems on 3 step drops where the motions are very quick and there's not time to reset.

As far as this "front foot" nonsense. You drive off your back foot to get the hip rotation in the throw. Just like a golf swing, you want to point your belt buckle at the target through you motion, you need to open up your hips and rotate from a side point to a front point at the target. This is where the velocity and control comes from. You have to drive off your back foot through the throw. Even the videos that verb posted of Tom Brady, he's driving off his back foot.

What he's doing with his front foot his opening up his hips into the throw. The part the front leg has in the velocity of the throw is important - but it's not where the throw comes from. You have to clear your front hip in the throw to open the motion up as you rotate through. The front knee bend is then to act as a shock absorber for the torque as you shift your weight from front to back -it keeps the shoulders square as you throw.

When discussing his feet, you forgot to discuss the role of more fashionable off field footwear in improving his footwork, syntax, diction, decision-making, pre-snap reads, and social bearing. Honest mistake, I'm sure.

Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

I think the narrow base followed by the over-stride was him pitching the football. It'd be great if he had more of an over-the-top throwing motion, but I was always more concerned about his footwork that his arm angle.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

I agree that his playing time as a pitcher influenced his throwing motion as a QB. I don't think it's wise to re-invent his throwing motion at this stage of his career, just tighten up his lower body mechanics, which I think is what we are seeing. If he was a short QB, then his low arm slot would be a larger issue. But he's not, so I'd just keep him the way he is with respect to his arm slot.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

I agree that his playing time as a pitcher influenced his throwing motion as a QB. I don't think it's wise to re-invent his throwing motion at this stage of his career, just tighten up his lower body mechanics, which I think is what we are seeing. If he was a short QB, then his low arm slot would be a larger issue. But he's not, so I'd just keep him the way he is with respect to his arm slot.

for sure, I agree, I think he's lower arm slot is the result of 2 decades of throwing. To me, he's always looked like a mix of a puncher and a flicker in his throw. I would like to see it just an inch or two higher, but again, not a huge deal.

Brian Billick describes Kaep's throwing motion as, "the sweetest I've seen".

Originally posted by thl408:
I agree that his playing time as a pitcher influenced his throwing motion as a QB. I don't think it's wise to re-invent his throwing motion at this stage of his career, just tighten up his lower body mechanics, which I think is what we are seeing. If he was a short QB, then his low arm slot would be a larger issue. But he's not, so I'd just keep him the way he is with respect to his arm slot.

I like the way you say "arm slot."

Originally posted by WRATHman44:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I'll offer what I see and address some of this "front foot" nonsense....

Ok, so, I notice a slightly wider base - which is good, he was a little narrow before, but it's not overly wide. One thing that I see is that his elbow is still a little low. If watch Tom Brady, Peyton manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Alex Smith throw, that elbow is above their shoulder. When your elbow is a little low, it causes the ball to sail on you a bit. But, it's not horrible, could be one reason CK tends to have a lot of balls batted down at the LOS

As far as footwork - much better. He's got good knee bend throughout his stepping motion. That knee bend is like a shock absorber on a car, it keeps everything nice and level. When he didn't have that knee bend it causes the spine to get out of position - it'll wobble back and forth, meaning he doesn't have great balance throughout his entire motion. Again, this can cause accuracy problems on 3 step drops where the motions are very quick and there's not time to reset.

As far as this "front foot" nonsense. You drive off your back foot to get the hip rotation in the throw. Just like a golf swing, you want to point your belt buckle at the target through you motion, you need to open up your hips and rotate from a side point to a front point at the target. This is where the velocity and control comes from. You have to drive off your back foot through the throw. Even the videos that verb posted of Tom Brady, he's driving off his back foot.

What he's doing with his front foot his opening up his hips into the throw. The part the front leg has in the velocity of the throw is important - but it's not where the throw comes from. You have to clear your front hip in the throw to open the motion up as you rotate through. The front knee bend is then to act as a shock absorber for the torque as you shift your weight from front to back -it keeps the shoulders square as you throw.

When discussing his feet, you forgot to discuss the role of more fashionable off field footwear in improving his footwork, syntax, diction, decision-making, pre-snap reads, and social bearing. Honest mistake, I'm sure.

I thought that all went without saying....lol

Originally posted by WRATHman44:

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

I think the narrow base followed by the over-stride was him pitching the football. It'd be great if he had more of an over-the-top throwing motion, but I was always more concerned about his footwork that his arm angle.

Yeah, that throwing motion is almost secondary when dropping back from center. Timing steps with receivers and getting your feet in position to throw the ball at the top of the drop back is the more important part. Quickly getting your feet into position to make a certain throw.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Originally posted by WRATHman44:

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Kaep has a natural baseball pitcher motion but not a natural football throwing motion. It's going to take more time to get away from that. But it's not like he's non functional with his current throwing motion.

I think the narrow base followed by the over-stride was him pitching the football. It'd be great if he had more of an over-the-top throwing motion, but I was always more concerned about his footwork that his arm angle.

Yeah, that throwing motion is almost secondary when dropping back from center. Timing steps with receivers and getting your feet in position to throw the ball at the top of the drop back is the more important part. Quickly getting your feet into position to make a certain throw.

I agree guys...this is what I've been saying this whole time!

that's a nice video. like seeing him have the ball by his ear. looks good. game day will be a different lion but so far he's putting in the work. nice

Originally posted by verb1der:
I agree guys...this is what I've been saying this whole time!

Nice try. No, sorry, but what you said was that he was throwing off his back foot which was wrong in your opinion. That's how we know you don't know what you're talking about.

Wow he really shortened his release. awesome!

Maybe I just haven't seen the post. But the biggest difference (other than the wide stance) that I see in his throw is where he keeps the ball while taking the drop.
One of the things Aaron Rogers had to change coming out of college was where he kept the ball while in the pocket. Part of what made him how good he is today is changing how he held the ball, because ultimately it was affecting his release.

Look at old Kap and where the ball is


Out in front of his chest and away from the body. (this is like rule #1 in QB school, and Harbs was supposed to be the QB whisperer )

In that new gif, it looks like he is keeping the ball closer to his body right around his neck area.
It could just be a bad angle, but it looks like that ball is closer to where it should be. Not only will this increase a his velocity a little bit, because of the torque his arm provides from a tighter angle, but its also going to help him get the ball out quicker. One thing Kap wasn't known for was having a fast release. I think this new throwing motion is drastically going to help him shed the "stare down receivers" label he gets so often because of that old elongated and awkward release

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Wow he really shortened his release. awesome!

Agreed.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Wow he really shortened his release. awesome!

That's what I see too. Hard to understand how anyone who has been watching him doesn't see progress there.