The Facts: Kaepernick spent a good portion of his offseason working on refining his game to be more accurate and consistent with his off-speed pitches, rather than firing fastballs all over the field. “I’m very optimistic about the season Colin will have this year,” 49ers safety Eric Reid said. “He’s been throwing the ball very well through the offseason program. A couple balls, I was like, ‘Man, that was a good throw.’ He’s definitely been putting in the work and it shows. I’m excited."

Diehards Line: Veteran safety Antoine Bethea also noticed Kaepernick was more difficult to read from his spot in deep in the 49ers’ secondary. “Not telegraphing where he’s going,” Bethea said. “That’s a key thing for a quarterback. He did a great job of that during OTAs. ..." With training camp opening Saturday, Kaepernick will try to continue to implement some of the mechanics he refined during a 10-week session in Arizona with private quarterback coach Dennis Gile. Kaepernick's offseason work included drop-in film-study tutoring from Kurt Warner. Kaepernick worked to tighten his throwing mechanics. But it remains to be seen if he will revert back to his old elongated form when the pads go on and the games begin. “Once you’re on the field, you’re playing,” Kaepernick said. “You’re not worried about anything other that doing your job to help your team.”