There might be a young woman who is a victim

There might be a young woman who is a victim, in which case Kaepernick's standing with the team is the least important casualty. We don't know yet. But, even

if charges are never filed, the collateral damage to Kaepernick's reputation can't be discounted. And the situation puts the 49ers in a bind.

One of the main themes of the offseason is that Kaepernick wants a long-term deal. He wants the 49ers to give him an extension that would pay him like other

top quarterbacks in the league: $18 million to $20 million a year.

The 49ers, having handed over the franchise to Kaepernick, are interested in locking him up. However, they are under no obligation to give him that kind of

deal: He has one more year on his very affordable contract and could be franchise tagged in the 2015 season.

Until Thursday, things looked promising for Kaepernick and his agent. He had a lot of leverage after all, performing well for a season and a half, getting

his team to a Super Bowl and a second NFC Championship Game. Why wouldn't the 49ers want to make sure that he's their quarterback for a good long while?

But, now, a chunk of that leverage may have disappeared. If you think the 49ers might not use this situation in negotiations, you haven't been paying

attention to professional sports.

Even if nothing illegal happened, from the 49ers' point of view, they don't want their star quarterback in a police blotter, with reports of doing shots and

taking bong hits and some naked young woman ending up in a hospital not knowing how she got there. That isn't Peyton Manning or Drew Brees territory. The

49ers need their franchise quarterback to never - as in never, ever - be in a compromising situation.