a recent exchange summation from the more general 49ers thread, cross-posted here...
kaepernick's struggles and development (or lack thereof) sidebar
the chain of Q & A at times quoted in full, and paraphrased in other instances (sans quotes)...
1) post 701 - "But the "49ers have no WR's" argument is starting to get thin. Brees hit 11 different receivers yesterday. You can't tell me that all 11 are better than what the 49ers put on the field yesterday."
good observation and insight, and fair, reasonable suggestion on that basis... if brees can involve his weapons 11 deep, why is kaepernick having so much trouble involving the #2 receiving target in boldin?
2) 703 - "Outside of TE Davis (and some might even argue Graham vs. Davis here), yes NO has better receivers all across the board."
nothing in the above post stated or implied anything to the contrary. it didn't say NO doesn't have better receivers across the board... being stronger across the board may enable some NO receivers to become more open due to the attention the defense must pay to other weapons, an advantage NO does have over SF. but again, that wasn't the thrust of the above statement.
3) 704 - "There is only one WR in the NFL that has
both a higher EPA & WPA than Boldin through week 11. He has had more of an impact than any Saints WR this season; the problem is his QB just has not played well enough to find him with any consistency."
if graham and davis are NO and SF's top receiving options, respectively, even if colston is better than boldin... is every receiving weapon down to the bottom of the NO bench better than boldin? if not, why is kaepernick struggling so much to get the ball in the hands of anybody not named vernon davis? the above point is imo a skeleton key to understanding this entire exchange... because if boldin is a viable receiving weapon ALONG WITH davis, kaepernick may have an excuse for not getting the ball in the hands of anybody other than davis AND boldin... but he doesn't have a good excuse for failing to get the ball to boldin, and anybody BUT davis.
4) 705 - this seems to be the point where the wheels start to hydroplane and begin to lose contact with the road, insofar as maintaining a coherent theme, within this particular strand of the thread... as near as i can make of this, two points are made... people who use stats and numbers spend more time on that than watching games? not sure i can get on board with that... also, the 49er watching cognoscenti are factoring in crabtree's absence into kaepernick's struggles, missing from stats and numbers regarding boldin... but this still doesn't address the initial question... unless crabtree's absence is supposed to be some kind of explanation for kaepernick being unable to extend past one on his progression reads?
5) 706 - "None of this refutes the fact that Anquan Boldin is still a very capable receiver and Kaepernick is struggling mightily in his progressions (and overall progress)." sums it up about as well as possible.
6) 707 - road contact lost, thematic coherence slide worsens... because SF isn't stacked with receiving weapons beyond vernon davis and boldin... the boldin geek graph is being used wrong... and this somehow, inexplicably segues back into point two (which didn't have anything to do with the initial point before, why would it now?).
7) 709 - vehicle has spun out of control and left the road... now, because boldin ALONE is not as good as the entire NO WR corp, this in some way explains why kaepernick locks onto vernon davis to the point of failing to better involve (and at times simply ignoring and just plain excluding) boldin.
since the initial point that was contested was never even addressed (let alone coherently explained), the context of the larger thread strand will have to suffice for others to form their own conclusions about whether kaepernick is showing development and improvement (with the receiving weapons such as they are), or not.