All 49ers

Is Quarterback Kurtis Rourke the 49ers' Next Diamond in the Rough?

The 49ers have a decent track record when it comes to drafting quarterbacks in Round 7.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 20, 2024; Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke (9) drops to throw during the first quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Dec 20, 2024; Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke (9) drops to throw during the first quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have a decent track record when it comes to drafting quarterbacks in Round 7.

That's where they picked Brock Purdy who just became the seventh-highest-paid player in the NFL in terms of annual average contract value. And that's where they took Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke just a few weeks ago.

Rourke is recovering from his second ACL surgery and might not be ready for training camp, which means he currently is fourth on the 49ers quarterback depth chart behind Purdy, Mac Jones and Tanner Mordecai.

Interestingly enough, Purdy was the 49ers' fourth-string quarterback when he first got drafted. He was behind Nate Sudfeld for an entire offseason. But Purdy beat him out, and the rest is history.

Could Rourke have a similar career trajectory? Pro Football Focus doesn't think that's likely.

"Rourke enters camp as the 49ers’ presumed third-string quarterback, assuming he makes the roster," writes PFF's Dalton Wasserman. "That outcome isn’t necessarily a negative, given Kyle Shanahan’s strong track record with quarterback development. Brock Purdy, a former seventh-round pick, now ranks among the NFL’s best under Shanahan. Rourke may not follow the same trajectory, but with Mac Jones on a two-year deal, there’s a potential path to the backup role in the future."

Rourke is intriguing because he's tall and he sees the field much better than Purdy, who's four inches shorter. Rourke is the same height as Tom Brady, who is Shanahan's platonic ideal for a quarterback. I'm not saying Rourke is the next Brady, but Brady was a sixth-round pick.

Don't be surprised if Rourke starts games for the 49ers at some point.

Read more

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News