In about a month, the 49ers are expected to trade Jimmy Garoppolo and move on with their plan to make Trey Lance their starting quarterback.
At that point, the next question becomes, who backs up Lance? Both Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch have expressed their belief that the importance of quarterback depth is paramount to the team’s success.
While it’s not an especially enticing market, it is full of affordable to mildly expensive backup-quality quarterbacks like Andy Dalton, Mitch Trubisky, Jacoby Brissett, Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor and others.
The Athletic’s Matt Barrows joined KNBR’s Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks on Monday and gave his view on who the 49ers should sign to back up Lance, who sustained a finger fracture and knee sprain at separate points this season.
“It’s got to be an experienced veteran who you know doesn’t need an awful lot of work in the offseason because you’re going to give it all to Lance,” Barrows said. “Lance can very easily get hurt, so this guy also has to be ready to come in.
“Tyrod Taylor, to answer my own question, is the guy that kind of jumps out in my mind as someone who’s perfect in so many ways, checks off all the boxes and will be a free agent, so I wonder if that’s the guy that they’re looking at.”
Taylor, an 11-year veteran, has been a starter at various points with the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers and most recently, the Houston Texans.
He was with now-49ers assistant head coach in Los Angeles and was set to be the starter over Justin Herbert before a freak injection accident caused a punctured lung and Herbert took off with the job. Taylor has been well-received by coaches and performed admirably at points in each of his stops, leading six game-winning drives and five comebacks in his career.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks weekdays from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.