The 49ers, as expected, signed a third quarterback to round out the roster, but it was not a veteran. On the surface that sounds surprising, or, if you want to be honest about it, it flat out bad idea given that they have Alex Smith starting and a schizophrenic offensive line in front of him. But look at what's out there. For the most part teams have held on to their veteran QBs.
Here's a list of the guys cut: Brodie Croyle (Arizona), John Parker Wilson (Atlanta), Adam Froman (Atlanta), Hunter Cantwell (Baltimore), Levi Brown (Buffalo), Joshua Nesbitt (Buffalo), Tony Pike (Carolina), Dan LeFevour (Cincinnati), Jarrett Brown (Cleveland), Tom Brandstater (Dallas), Adam Weber (Denver [sorry, Tebow fans]), Zac Robinson (Detroit), Graham Harrell (Green Bay), Dan Orlovsky (Indianapolis), Pat Devlin (Miami), Kevin O'Connell (Miami), Sean Canfield (New Orleans), Ryan Perrilloux (New York Giants), Drew Willy (New York Jets), Trent Edwards (Oakland), Scott Tolzien (San Diego), Jonathan Crompton (Tampa Bay), Rudy Carpenter (Tampa Bay), Matt Gutierrez (Washington), Kellen Clemens (Washington).
It's a veritable wasteland of young QBs that teams ran out of patience trying to develop or have ticketed to their practice squads to toil in obscurity. There are very, very few NFL starts here.
Clemens has made nine of them, with eight coming in the 2007 season for the Jets. He has a career 59.7 passer rating.
Croyle had ten starts (six of them in 2007) in five seasons for the Chiefs and has gone a perfect oh-and-10. His QB rating is 67.8.
Orlovsky made all seven of his career starts for the 2008 Lions. He went 0-7 and they went 0-16. His career rating is 71.3 (close to Alex Smith's career mark).
There's only one other guy on the list who's made any starts, and obviously that's Edwards, who's played in 37 games and started 33 of them. A 3rd-round pick out of Stanford for the Bills, Edwards peaked in his second season, starting 14 games, completing 65.5% of his passes for 2,699 yards and throwing 11 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. His QB rating of 85.4 is better than any season of Smith's career, for a reference point.
However, Edwards' career has taken a sharp turn for the worse since then and the Bills eventually gave up on him as a franchise QB prospect. He was waived early in the 2010 season, signed by the Jaguars, where he saw action in three games and started one, and signed as a free agent by the Raiders in the off-season. They cut him, deciding to go with Kyle Boller (Kyle Boller!!!11!) as the backup to Jason Campbell. For whatever reason, coach Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers wanted no piece of him. Edwards completed 22-of-39 passes (56.4%) for 254 yards, with one touchdown and one interception in the preseason, and was 3-of-6 for 36 yards and a pick against the 49ers on Aug. 20.
So, given all that information, the news that they claimed Tolzien off waivers from the Chargers isn't a big shock. Tolzien, along with Froman from Louisville, were two quarterbacks the team liked during the draft, and they likely would've pressed harder to sign one or the other if the CBA had allowed them to do so. Remember, the lockout was lifted for one day back then (when all the 49ers offensive guys got their playbooks), but it was forbidden for teams to sign anybody. Tolzien's agent steered him to San Diego, figuring that the 49ers weren't going to dump Smith or their 2nd-round pick, Colin Kaepernick, and that the team would likely add a veteran. The Chargers on the other hand had no other youngsters to compete with. Still, those roster spots are valuable, and San Diego probably figured they could stash Tolzien on their practice squad. They gambled there, and lost (not that GM A.J. Smith will cry into his fish taco about it, he's got Philip Rivers on his team for crying out loud).
Here's what we know about Tolzien: He was 21-5 the last two seasons as a starter for Wisconsin and is the university's all-time career leader in completion percentage (68.1). He also holds school records in single-season completions (211, in 2009) and single-season completion percentage (72.9, in 2010). He was the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm
Award winner last season and a Second-Team All-Big Ten honoree. He beat Ohio State last season, but lost the 2011 Rose Bowl to Andy Dalton and TCU 21-19.
You may recall watching Tolzien just a few days ago if you decided to take in that final preseason game at San Diego. Against the 49ers he was 16-of-23 (69.6%) for 226 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He completed several long passes down the right sideline over Chris Culliver, who had tight coverage on those plays, but Culliver got the last laugh with a late interception on a rare Tolzien under-throw. For the preseason Tolzien finished 25-of-40 (62.5%) for 302 yards and that same one touchdown and one interception. His QB rating was 83.5.
So now the 49ers will have two rookies backing up Smith. Jim Harbaugh's gonna take a lot of heat for that, if anything goes wrong. It appears that he's got an extremely high faith in both Smith and the offensive line, and there's really no rationale for either.
Here's something to consider though -- Edwards wasn't technically the most-experienced quarterback cut on Saturday. Josh McCown has seen action in 49 games, with 31 starts. The 49ers might have figured that their only shot at Tolzien would be to put a waiver claim on him, necessitating a spot on the 53-man roster (POSTSCRIPT: Jason LaConfora of NFL Network tells me the Niners were the only team to put in a claim on him. Oh well.) Perhaps when the dust settles in a few weeks, they can try sneaking him through waivers and onto their practice squad and re-sign McCown to be Smith's backup.
Speaking of the practice squad, the 49ers have filled their eight slots there for the time being. Linebacker Keaton Kristick's Twitter joy at making the team was short-lived. He was released to make room for Tolzien before passing unclaimed through waivers.
The other seven guys are: C Chase Beeler, G/T Derek Hall, WR Joe Hastings, CB Cory Nelms, RB Xavier Omon, TE Konrad Reuland and LB Monte Simmons.
Beeler, Hall and Reuland were all Stanford guys who played under Harbaugh and safe bets for the practice squad all along. I wasn't impressed at all by Beeler, but I guess they needed an 11th offensive lineman and another guy who could snap the ball when they decided to cut Tony Wragge (who was signed by the Rams).
I was surprised nobody made a claim on Omon, who had 30 carries for 121 yards in the preseason. I think he'd be a top-three back for quite a few teams -- including the 49ers.
Nelms was more renowned as a track guy at Miami than a football player, but was timed at 4.38 in the 40-yard dash during his workout and did show some promise in camp and in the preseason. He should've had an interception in that Chargers game, but the ball clanked off his hands.
The two names that surprise me are Simmons and Hastings, neither of who did a thing in the preseason. I honestly can't think of a single receiver on the training camp roster who got less practice reps than Hastings, but I could be wrong. Similarly, Simmons got such little playing time in the games that he didn't record a single tackle in any of them. Both of them have to add some serious weight to survive at this level.
I do give the 49ers a ton of credit for not having Ronald Johnson on their practice squad. A lot of teams/GMs don't want to admit mistakes by completely casting draft picks aside so early, but the 49ers did just that with their 6th-round pick out of USC. Nothing against him personally, but Johnson was terrible in the preseason.
The team's roster shuffling looks done for now, but they may still elect to add a veteran tight end. If and when they do, they'll likely cut either DT Will Tukuafu or S Colin Jones.
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Yesterday, Harbaugh said that Jones made the team largely (perhaps entirely) for his special teams prowess and to that end he would be one of the 46 players dressed on Sundays. So I got out the ol' notebook and started looking at various scenarios that would accommodate that.
Here's my best guess at their thinking:
QB (2): Tolzien sits, which would make sense since he has to learn the offense.
RB (3): Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter and Anthony Dixon will have roles on game day.
FB (2): Bruce Miller will contribute on special teams and fill in as a third tight end. Harbaugh will also use a sixth lineman, most likely tackle Alex Boone, as a third tight end in short-yardage situations.
WR (4): The odd man out would be Kyle Williams most weeks, but it could be Michael Crabtree for the first game if he's not ready to go.
TE (2): There's no third tight end to sit, so they're fine there.
OL (7): Rookies Daniel Kilgore and Mike Person are out. Adam Snyder will back up the interior three spots and Boone will be the swing tackle. Things get tricky if Snyder ever replaces Chilo Rachal in the starting lineup, because Rachal isn't versatile enough to play center. Then Kilgore would have to dress.
DL (6): My guess is that Ian Williams will be the odd man out because he was running on the third team during the preseason. Will Tukuafu could sit too, if they decide to go with just five guys. Ricky Jean Francois is versatile enough to play at nose and at end.
LB (7): Antwan Applewhite could sit, with either Aldon Smith or Parys Haralson backing up and getting plenty of playing time at both outside spots in a three man rotation with Ahmad Brooks. Larry Grant would be the top backup at both inside spots, while Blake Costanzo is primarily just a special teams guy.
CB (4): Shawntae Spencer might be a scratch until his hamstring heals, but after that it will be interesting to see if Tramaine Brock or Chris Culliver is the one down. Culliver can return kicks and has gotten better week after week, whereas Brock's regressed.
S (6): Dashon Goldson, Donte Whitner, Madieu Williams and Reggie Smith will all play, while C.J. Spillman and Colin Jones are special teams guys.
ST (3): Andy Lee punts and holds for kicks. David Akers is the kicker. Brian Jennings is the long snapper.
So, your seven guys not dressed and assuming everyone's healthy are: QB Tolzien, WR K. Williams, G/C Kilgore, T Person, NT I. Williams, LB Applewhite and CB Brock. They could play Applewhite and sit Tukuafu or sit both and play Kyle Williams, who can return kicks and has YAC skills.
Me? I wouldn't even have Jones on the roster in the first place. He's not that good on special teams. Dressing six safeties is kinda crazy.
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Finally, a belated look at my fantasy team. I play in a 14-team league and was drafting second, so after deciding on Drew Brees over Michael Vick (don't trust him to stay healthy behind that line), I had to wait until the 27th pick to grab my second guy, settling on Dallas' Felix Jones when that bastard Grant Cohn stole Ahmad Bradshaw of the Giants one pick before me.
Here's the full roster:
2. QB Drew Brees, Saints
27. RB Felix Jones, Cowboys
30. WR Greg Jennings, Packers
55. WR Wes Welker, Patriots
58. TE Dallas Clark, Colts
83. RB Joseph Addai, Colts
86. RB James Starks, Packers
111. New York Jets Defense
114. WR Lee Evans, Ravens
139. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills
142. TE Tony Moeaki, Chiefs
167. RB Kendall Hunter, 49ers
170. WR Donald Driver, Packers
195. K Ryan Succop, Chiefs
198. RB Tashard Choice, Cowboys
223. WR Joshua Cribbs, Browns
226. LB Brian Urlacher, Bears
251. St. Louis Defense
254. K Adam Vinatieri, Colts
279. WR Donald Jones, Bills
No regrets with the first four picks, but I'm furious with myself for panicking and taking Clark in the 5th round, and not just because of the injury situation with Peyton Manning. Plenty of good tight ends were still evaluable and there was a run on #2 RBs after that pick, meaning that I lost out on Washington's Tim Hightower, Denver's Knowshon Moreno, Cincinnati's Cedric Benson, and both Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert from San Diego. I had to settle (sigh) on Addai, who's extremely injury prone.
The Starks pick in round six will either make me look like a genius or a dummy, depending on whether he beats out Ryan Grant for a starting job with the Packers. If he does, then I can park Addai on the bench.
Moeaki was lost for the season with a torn ACL a couple days after our draft, so I've replaced him with Philly's Brent Celek. Vick has vowed to throw to Celek more this season, so we'll see. I might have to start him if Manning's out.
The Hunter pick was made in case Gore goes down. I'm hoping he doesn't, because I like Gore personally, but you can't ignore the fact that he's gotten fewer carries every season since 2006.
Choice is a handcuff for Felix Jones. Unless they decide to use DeMarco Murray instead, in which case I'd be boned.
For a look at our draft, here's the link. I'm not sure if it will work for people who aren't in it or not. Right now Grant's team (lazily named SQUAD) looks the best to me. That's what I get for inviting him, I guess.
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