With a banged up roster, the San Francisco 49ers are looking into all of their options this week. That includes possibly adding a third quarterback and another running back. Luckily, the team has an extra day to do its research because it won't play again until next Monday night.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan did seem a bit annoyed with being asked about the quarterback situation each week, though.
"I see a very similar situation right now as last week," Shanahan told reporters on Monday. "We're talking about this stuff every Monday. We had a number of running backs in today to work out. We haven't come to a conclusion yet on the quarterback. We'll look more into that tomorrow."
Any quarterback brought in would serve as a backup, along with Nick Mullens, to C.J. Beathard. That means either signing a player to take Mullens' spot on the active roster, signing someone to the practice squad, or uncharacteristically heading into a game with three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. With that last scenario, Shanahan hopes to buy some time until the injury situation makes doing so easier.
The 49ers worked out seven quarterbacks on September 25. They included names like Landry Jones, EJ Manuel, and Tom Savage. It is likely that any quarterback added to the roster would come from that list.
Shanahan was asked if a new quarterback would back up Beathard or be signed to the practice squad.
"Mullens is our backup to Beathard so we're looking for a guy to have a chance to come in and play if C.J. went down and Nick was going, so we could have an immediate backup right away," Shanahan said. "You'd love ideally to find that as a practice squad guy, but we haven't been able to do that yet, so either one which would fit that situation better."
Shanahan informed reporters that running back Matt Breida will likely be doubtful versus the Green Bay Packers. He sustained a mid-ankle sprain during Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Breida will not practice on Thursday, which will be the team's first practice of the week because of the extra day to prepare. The 49ers typically hold their first practice on Wednesdays.
"We're trying to see how our guys are, how healthy Breida is," Shanahan said. "[The MRI results were] better news than anticipated, but it's still not great news so we'll see that over the next couple of days. It was good to take a look at some [running backs] today."
Shanahan didn't want to disclose any of the running back names who worked out but made mention of Jeremy McNichols, whom the 49ers signed last season and spent the offseason with the team before being waived on September 1.
Jeff Wilson, who is on the practice squad, is also a candidate for the active roster.
