The San Francisco 49ers are serious about getting a new deal done with Colin Kaepernick ahead of the 2014 season.
General manager Trent Baalke said Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando that the team hopes to lock down a new contract with the quarterback by the start of training camp in late July. Preliminary contract negotiations with Kaepernick's agents have begun, with face-to-face meetings up next.
"We're going to work extremely hard, very diligently in trying to get something done prior to training camp," Baalke said, according to CSNBayArea.com. "That's the objective right now, as it stands."
Niners coach Jim Harbaughsaid Monday that locking up Kaepernick is a major goal of San Francisco's offseason.
"The priority is that Colin Kaepernick is a San Francisco 49er for however long we can have him be a San Francisco 49er," Harbaugh said. "It's definitely a high priority."
Kaepernick is scheduled to earn $1.073 million in base pay and bonuses in 2014, the final year of the rookie contract he signed in 2011. For comparison purposes, Kaepernick makes about half of what backup Blaine Gabbert will earn in guaranteed salary next season.
Translation: The man is due a serious raise. Barring a stalemate in negotiations, it sounds like he'll soon get it.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" broke down all the latest news at the NFL Annual Meeting.