There is an abundance of murkiness when it comes to the 49ers quarterback situation. While it’s all but assured that Trey Lance will be on the roster, it’s unclear what Brock Purdy’s return timeline will be.
He might return at the start of the season, later in the season, or not at all.
That poses quite a few challenges for a front office that is tasked with assessing a free agent market that opens in two weeks.
So, what do the 49ers do at backup quarterback? Matt Barrows of The Athletic assessed the situation on Wednesday with Papa & Lund.
Ideally, you’d love to bring in a veteran quarterback with significant game time under his belt. But that’s a tough proposition, Barrows said, when asked about the prospect of the team signing Matt Ryan.
I think that would be ideal. I think it depends on that quarterback because you’re basically telling that quarterback you’re going to be the No. 3 guy. Does the No. 3 guy go on the active roster? Is he on the practice squad? There’s a certain monetary mark that comes with being the No. 3 guy.
I’m not sure if Matt Ryan’s ego would allow him to do that. I’m not exactly sure. That’s something that the 49ers are going to have to think about. If that’s not the right type of guy, you’re kind of at the Nate Sudfeld range again.
That would be the type of guy that would easily go on to a practice squad and you could bring him up. A Josh Johnson [type]. I don’t think anybody’s thinking about Josh Johnson right now after what we saw in Philadelphia, but that seems to be the caliber of guy that would kind of fit into the grand scheme of things.
Now, if you’re truly trying to insulate yourselves against myriad injuries, which this team has experienced, then I think you want that higher caliber guy.
The Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Sam Darnold — Marcus Mariota is now available. He would seem to be a really good fit if Trey Lance is your starter going into the regular season. He’s a guy that can run an offense very similar to the way that Trey runs it.
So much of what the 49ers look for depends on Purdy’s status. They’ll need a viable third quarterback, but the echelon and amount of money they spend on signing someone like that, and/or whether they add a player in the draft, depends on whether Purdy is out for training camp or the season.
Right now, that’s not known. And as the free agency window creeps ever closer to opening, the 49ers still don’t know which timeline they’re operating with.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Papa & Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.