The 49ers quarterback carousel continues to roll on.
With Brock Purdy facing a major surgery to repair a torn UCL in his throwing elbow, and Trey Lance still recovering from a season-ending ACL injury, it appears San Francisco may be in the QB market once again.
It’s enough to immediately inflame speculation that SF will pursue a veteran QB on the free agent market, and there are a number of stars that may be available. According to Vegas bookmakers, landing one is more of a likelihood than a long shot.
According to Bovada, the top two most likely candidates to take the first snap on Week 1 are not named Brock Purdy, and the No. 1 candidate isn’t currently on the team. Tom Brady (+115), Trey Lance (+120) and Brock Purdy (+350) are the top three, followed by Jimmy Garoppolo (+1000), Lamar Jackson (+1200), Derek Carr (+2000) and Aaron Rodgers (+2000).
The 49ers had a chance to land Brady after the 2019 season, but were coming off a Super Bowl loss and had just paid Garoppolo a king’s ransom. Brady is again looking for a Super Bowl ready team and this time the 49ers have far less of a clear picture of the QB position. A homecoming for Brady could make a lot of sense.
As for Purdy and Lance, the latter said on Tuesday that he’ll be ready for training camp while the hope with Purdy is that he will be too. The question mark with Purdy is the nature of his his surgery. If it’s a full reconstruction, he’ll need Tommy John, and could be out for a more significant amount of time.