The San Francisco 49ers will have some kind of quarterback competition this offseason, but it remains to be seen who all the participants will be. We can say with almost absolute certainty that Blaine Gabbert will be part of this group, and odds are pretty good that Dylan Thompson will at least get a chance to compete in training camp. Beyond that? Well, we don't know where Colin Kaepernick will be, and we don't know what kind of free agent money or draft assets the team might use on the position.

Blaine Gabbert appears to be doing everything he can at this point to get a jump on the situation. At a Super Bowl week event, he spoke with Carl Steward and said he is already looking at tape of Chip Kelly's time in Oregon and Philadelphia to get an idea of the kind of stuff he might implement.

Due to the collective bargaining agreement, players and coaches are not allowed to discuss football "stuff" before the offseason workout program begins in April. Kelly used this as a way to deflect a lot of questions about the quarterback situation during his introductory press conference and subsequent radio interview. In reality, they are allowed to interact in general, and that likely leads to some discussion of football which is kept on the down-low. Gabbert said he chatted briefly with Kelly after he was hired, just to "just to say hello and introduce myself."

People will quickly ask, well what's Colin Kaepernick doing about this. Kap is in Colorado doing his rehab and generally staying away from the media. He's got plenty of free time with his rehab going on, so he could be up to something. Of course, if he is convinced he will not be back, who knows what is going on.

For now, we do know Gabbert is doing something to prep for the coming offseason of learning Chip Kelly's offense. He put together some solid numbers once he took over the quarterback position. He still had plenty of issues that may never go away, but maybe Chip Kelly can offer his version of quarterback whispering. Given the dysfunction of the 49ers 2015 team, showing some signs of improvement counts for something.