According to recent reports, including one from Craig Carton of New York Sports Radio, the 49ers have spent this offseason sniffing around the NFC North, possibly shopping for a veteran quarterback who grew up on Dunkaroos and Darkwing Duck.
Given his distance from the Bay Area and questionable past, it may be easy to question Carton’s report. 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan also have a prolific reputation for keeping roster intel tight to the vest. Remember in 2021 when Chris Simms, current NBC football analyst and Shanahan’s former teammate at the University of Texas, professed to the world that San Francisco had traded up to acquire Mac Jones with the third overall selection?
In this case, and given the 2022 health of the current crop of 49ers’ quarterbacks, there may be enough smoke permeating to investigate the validity of these 2023 pre-draft claims.
Will the 49ers trade for a quarterback over the next three-to-four weeks? It’s certainly possible.
Should the organization pull the trigger? Absolutely not.
As Angela Miele dissected earlier this week, Rodgers, who will turn 40 by mid-season, is scheduled to make $31.6 million for the 2023 season. After splurging last month for prized free agent defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, signing him to a deal worth and yearly average of $21 million, the 49ers, according to OverTheCap, currently, have just $3 million in cap space remaining.
$28 million, especially with long-term deals with Nick Bosa and possibly Brandon Aiyuk looming on the horizon, seems like an insurmountable amount. How could Lynch and Shanahan feasibly make it work? Some suggest restructuring a few veteran contracts, while others think San Francisco could just package the young Trey Lance with a player like Deebo Samuel to make it work under the cap.
Please…just stop.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers Evan Siegle, packers.com
After a decade and a half of watching Rodgers carve up the NFC, the reality of securing his services for a possible one-year rental, mind you, would be financially disastrous for San Francisco and hold ramifications that would reverberate through the franchise for the next few pivotal seasons.
In addition to the rumored speculation surrounding Rodgers, much of the discussion earlier this week centered around an NFL Combine rumor of San Francisco actively trying to work a deal for Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins this past month. Shanahan, while in Washington in 2012, was responsible for drafting the soon-to-be 35-year-old Cousins.
Thanks to a recent restricted deal, Cousins’ salary cap hit is quite less than the price tag on Rodgers. If finances were the only thing holding Lynch and company back from acquiring Rodgers, maybe the front office could more easily finagle a deal for the current Viking?
One major red flag in this rabbit hole theory, however, lies in the fact that Minnesota, due to Cousins’ restructuring, now owes their signal-caller $28.5 million in 2024…whether he is on the roster or not.
NFL teams don’t normally make a habit of flushing 1/8 of their cap space down the drain in dead money.
The 49ers Don’t Need a New Quarterback
Aside from the financial upheaval accompanying these rumors, the 49ers do not need Aaron Rodgers on the field. The 49ers do not need Kirk Cousins on the field.
49ers quarter Brock Purdy (13) -Tony Avelar/AP
In 2022, Shanahan helped guide rookie Brock Purdy, the quarterback that the other 31 NFL teams failed to value as draft worthy in the 2022 NFL draft, to the second-highest QBR in the NFC last season, just on the heels of MVP runner-up Jalen Hurts.
In fact, if one maps out Shanahan’s career as a play caller dating over the past 15 seasons, his primary quarterbacks seem to fit a specific profile regarding their production. Averaged out throughout his career, which spans more than 240 games controlling offenses, Shanahan’s QB1 completes roughly 67 percent of his passes, throws for 264 ypg, and produces a QB rating of 93.
Both Rodgers and Cousins fell below these marks in 2022, despite each having the luxury of playing the NFL’s worst team twice. Who are the quarterbacks that constitute these averages in Shanahan’s career in the first place?
Matt Schaub, Robert Griffin, Donovan McNabb, Rex Grossman, Brian Hoyer, Matt Ryan, Nick Mullens, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Brock Purdy.
Not exactly the quarterback room George Seifert inherited…
This season, the 49ers will enter camp with arguably its most talented quarterback room in years. The trio of 25-year-old Sam Darnold, 23-year-old Purdy, and 22-year-old Lance consist of two recent top 5 NFL Draft picks and the highest-rated quarterback from this past Thanksgiving to the NFC Championship game.
While prime Matt Ryan doesn’t sit atop the depth chart, it is certainly plausible that any of these three is more than capable in the hands of Shanahan to steer this ship. Which one will seemingly be determined by health and camp production?
Quarterback Sam Darnold (14) – Sean M. Haffey, Getty Images
