In the preseason when the 49ers went super lame and vanilla under center offense it was clear Gabbert was at least competent at drooping back and executing the shorter, quicker passes.
Is the offense gonna be any good? No. But 49ers couldn't even count on basic bad QB NFL level competency from Kaepernick.
this year kap has displayed all the worst traits of the modern NFL QB:
1. slow decision making
2. locking onto receivers
3. awful pocket presence
4. unwillingness to throw receivers open
5. unwillingness to trust receivers to be in a spot
6. poor touch
7. poor accuracy
the only thing i can say for him is, aside from the cards game, he has taken care of the ball for the most part. but honestly, with our defense, what is the difference between throwing a pick on a deep throw vs. going 3 and out on your own 20 + a shitty punt so the other team gets good field position against a bad defense? there is no difference except you have a 0% chance to get a PI call on a punt, whereas throwing an andrew luck might yield a penalty