All 49ers

Which Quarterback will the 49ers Add to their Roster this Offseason?

The 49ers almost always enter training camp with four quarterbacks on their 90-man roster. When the new league year begins on March 12, they'll have only two.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard (18) reacts after a play against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard (18) reacts after a play against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers almost always enter training camp with four quarterbacks on their 90-man roster. When the new league year begins on March 12, they'll have only two -- Brock Purdy and Tanner Mordecai.

Which quarterbacks will the 49ers add to round out their room?

Brandon Allen and Joshua Dobbs both will be unrestricted free agents this offseason and the 49ers should not re-sign either of them. They're not good enough. The 49ers need backups who can win a few games if Purdy misses time due to injury, which happened twice this season. So even if the 49ers give Purdy a multi-year contract extension that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL, they still should be in the quarterback market.

They could try to sign a backup quarterback, but the pool of players who would choose to back up a quarterback such as Purdy who just signed a massive extension might be small. Quarterbacks such as Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, Daniel Jones or Mac Jones might prefer to sign with teams that give them a chance to compete for playing time. They won't get those opportunities here.

The 49ers could trade for a backup quarterback instead. Will Levis is an intriguing option. He was a second-round pick in 2023 who played for a terrible team -- the Tennessee Titans. They benched him midway through this season, he's under contract for two more years and the 49ers probably could acquire him for a conditional sixth- or seventh-round draft pick. He has 21 games of starting experience and a live arm.

The 49ers also could draft a quarterback. If they want one who's similar to Brock Purdy, they could take Oregon's Dillon Gabriel or Ohio State's Will Howard. If they want a dual-threat who's similar to Jalen Hurts, they could take Alabama's Jalen Milroe.

It will be interesting to see what Kyle Shanahan decides to do.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

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