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San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch confirmed the Niners' front office was planning to release quarterback Colin Kaepernick if he didn't opt out of his contract to become a free agent. 

On Wednesday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk passed along comments Lynch made for an upcoming segment on PFT Live about a discussion with the QB about his status with the organization.

"Yes, [he would have been cut] and we had that conversation with him," the GM said. "So I don't want to characterize it as he made a decision to leave here."

Lynch went on to say the team didn't feel Kaepernick fit the scheme new head coach Kyle Shanahan is planning to implement. He worked with a traditional pocket passer in Matt Ryan during his time as the Atlanta Falcons' offensive coordinator.

"So he had a great discussion that I think gave Colin clarity, so we moved on," Lynch said, per PFT. "Brian Hoyer was one of the guys we pursued. Once we pursued him, we didn't see Kaep as a backup that would really fit in that scheme and we communicated that to him."

Kaepernick has remained a free agent ever since opting out. He recently visited the Seattle Seahawks, who are looking for a backup to entrenched starter Russell Wilson, but Ian Rapoport‏ of the NFL Network reported "nothing is imminent" between the sides.

Meanwhile, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is among the players who've come to Kaepernick's defense. He said during a March appearance on First Take he thought the quarterback was being "blackballed" for kneeling during the national anthem last season, per Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com.

"I'm sure he is," Sherman said. "It's difficult to see because he's played at such a high level, and you see guys, quarterbacks, who have never played at a high level being signed by teams. So it's difficult to understand. Obviously he's going to be in a backup role at this point. But you see quarterbacks, there was a year Matt Schaub had a pretty rough year and got signed the next year. So it has nothing to do with football. You can see that. They signed guys who have had off years before."

One other issue Lynch addressed was a report from Peter King of The MMQB, who spent the 2017 NFL draft within Niners headquarters. He proceeded to report some in the building felt Kaepernick "might actually rather do social justice work full-time than play quarterback."

"I want to put that to rest," Lynch told PFT. "...We wish Colin the best and I can tell everybody out there he very much is sincere in his interest to get back in this league, and I hope it works out for him."

Adam Schefter of ESPN also reported Kaepernick is planning to stand for the national anthem if a team signs him for next season. But he remains on the free-agent market with about two months until training camp gets underway.