Familiarity with the coaching staff
Last offseason, the obscure connection between Broncos head coach Vic Fangio and newly acquired quarterback Joe Flacco was cited as one of the reasons the team felt comfortable trading for the veteran signal-caller.
Fangio was a defensive assistant with Baltimore for a few seasons including two seasons of overlap with Flacco, and that was a connection that was cited as one of the number of reasons the team felt good about making the trade they wound up making.
If that connection was meaningful enough, then certainly Fangio’s connection to Kaepernick from their time together in San Francisco (2011-14) is notable.
Fangio was the defensive coordinator so he wasn’t working directly with Kaepernick, but he certainly knows him well and was around him for his best years.
Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was also on the 49ers staff with Fangio during that time, and Denver Broncos running backs coach Curtis Modkins was Kaepernick’s offensive coordinator during the 2016 season.
The Broncos have coaches on their staff who can speak directly to what kind of person and player Kaepernick is and how he would fit in with the current group of guys in Denver’s locker room.