San Francisco 49ers Admit Quarterback Help Might Be Needed This Offseason

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch spoke to media this week from the site of the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

There was some talk about San Francisco’s draft plans. But without a pick in each of the first two rounds and major questions at quarterback, that’s where attention quickly turned.

A seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Brock Purdy played well as a rookie a season ago. In fact, he led San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game after replacing an injured Jimmy Garoppolo in December. Garoppolo himself replaced yet another injured 49ers quarterback in that of Trey Lance in Week 2.

If this weren’t enough, San Francisco lost Purdy to an elbow injury in January’s conference title game game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s yet to undergo surgery and might not be ready for the start of the 2023 season. See a theme here? San Francisco’s quarterback situation remains largely unsettled with NFL free agency slated to open on March 15.

Brock Purdy Injury Update And Impact On San Francisco 49ers Offseason Plans (forbes.com)

It’s in this that Lynch admitted that San Francisco could look for external options out on the open market.

“We love the two guys we have,” Lynch said this week from Indianapolis. “Might we look elsewhere? Sure, because I think that’s just good business.”

There are certainly financial hurdles for San Francisco to overcome if it is going to add a viable quarterback to compete with the two largely inexperienced internal options. Per Over the Cap, the 49ers have less than $6 million in cap space. Sure, Lynch and Co. are going to add more room via restructures and the like. But that’s not a great position to be in.

What we do know is that longtime starter Jimmy Garoppolo is as good as gone. “We admire the teammate that he was. I do think it’s probably run its course,” Lynch said of Garoppolo on Tuesday.

With the 49ers openly questioning Lance’s ability to stay healthy and Purdy’s own injury issues right now, it stands to reason that San Francisco will do what it can to add a veteran signal caller to the mix.

How The San Francisco 49ers Might Address Their Quarterback Situation

First off, let’s just completely throw out the possibility that four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers is going to land in Northern California. Outside of San Francisco’s cap situation, it doesn’t have the draft pick assets to offer up the Green Bay Packers in a trade for the future Hall of Famer. The same thing can be said about Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson.

Instead, the 49ers will be looking for a quarterback with a ton of starting experience who can come in and act as a veteran presence for Purdy and Lance. The good news? There’s a ton of quarterbacks who fit that description set to hit NFL Free agency.

Former No. 2 picks Marcus Mariota (Atlanta Falcons) and Carson Wentz (Washington Commanders) were just released by their respective teams. Despite their recent struggles, both have ample starting experience and have enjoyed some success throughout their careers.

Former NFL MVP Matt Ryan is on his last legs after some major struggles in his first season with the Indianapolis Colts. He’s also likely going to hit free agency with Indianapolis set to release the borderline future Hall of Famer. Ryan earned that MVP working with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan when the latter was the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator back in 2016.

Other potential options include Baker Mayfield, Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew, Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton and Taylor Heinicke.

These aren’t exactly the type of names 49ers fans like to hear be linked to their team. With that said, San Francisco’s brass has made it clear that its comfortable with Lance and Purdy vying for the starting job heading into 2023. Short of the 49ers getting bad news on Purdy’s pending surgery, I don’t expect Lynch and Co. to change up their mentality and exhaust more capital on the quarterback position.

Simply put, San Francisco’s roster just isn’t constructed to go in that direction right now.