Brock Purdy is now one injury away from starting. While the San Francisco 49ers have expressed a lot of confidence in the last overall pick in this year's draft, having the rookie lead a championship-caliber roster probably isn't ideal.
Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo is the starter moving forward following the season-ending injury to Trey Lance, last year's No. 3 overall pick. Lance will undergo surgery today on the broken ankle suffered in the first quarter of Sunday's 27-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
Purdy hasn't even been active in San Francisco's two games this season. However, he may suit up for Sunday's matchup against the Denver Broncos. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was the 49ers' emergency quarterback against the Seahawks had anything happened to Garoppolo.
"I told Jimmy in the locker room (at halftime), I said, 'Hey man, don't make me play quarterback today,' Juszczyk said. "And he promised he was going to do everything he could to not let that happen."
Juice was more than aware that he was the emergency QB 😂 pic.twitter.com/Wa0JdbVyJw
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) September 18, 2022
Head coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged that the 49ers need to add another quarterback.
"Whether it's a third or whether it's on the practice squad, but we need a third guy," Shanahan said.
What are his options? Pro Football Focus' Doug Kyed weighed in on that this morning.
"The 49ers' options include current free agents like Cam Newton and A.J. McCarron, trading for a player like [Mason] Rudolph or signing a player off another team's practice squad," Kyed wrote. "They cannot sign quarterback Josh Johnson off the Denver Broncos' practice squad since the two teams play next week, but Cleveland Browns practice squad quarterback Josh Rosen has a history in San Francisco, and the Green Bay Packers' Danny Etling, the Seattle Seahawks' Sean Mannion, the Minnesota Vikings' David Blough, and the New York Jets' Chris Streveler play in similar offenses."
This season, having Garoppolo as an insurance plan has helped San Francisco avoid disaster. But what about next season? Garoppolo is scheduled to become a free agent after this season, and San Francisco may want someone with experience backing up Lance, who will be coming off his injury.
"There's a litany of quarterbacks with starting experience set to hit free agency next offseason," wrote Kyed, "including Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater, Daniel Jones, Mason Rudolph, Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, Case Keenum, Geno Smith, Taylor Heinicke, Gardner Minshew, Drew Lock, and Andy Dalton. Former 49ers signal-callers Nick Mullens, C.J. Beathard, and Nate Sudfeld also are set to be free agents."
With Lance sidelined for the rest of 2022, the 49ers have options to weigh. We'll probably hear about a move sooner rather than later.