The conversation this offseason about the 49ers offense has focused on Colin Kaepernick’s mobility.
CEO Jed York, new head coach Jim Tomsula and incoming quarterbacks coach Steve Logan all have raved about Kaepernick’s ability to make big plays with his speed. It appears that in 2015, the 49ers will re-introduce elements of the read-option offense and more designed running plays for Kaepernick.
If that’s the case, might the 49ers also be interested in a mobile No. 2 quarterback?
Blaine Gabbert, Kaepernick’s No. 1 backup in 2014, will be a free agent. So will Josh Johnson, the team’s third QB.
Johnson, 29, doesn’t have Kaepernick’s speed, but he’s worked with new offensive coordinator Geep Chryst for quite a while now and has mobility. As a starter for the Bucs (four games) in 2009, he rushed for 148 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. His career average in 29 NFL games is 6.2 yards. He could be retained to compete for a backup job.
Gabbert, meanwhile, wouldn’t fit that mold. It seems unlikely he would return.
So, if the 49ers do build an offensive scheme designed around a mobile QB and the read-option, it seems imperative that the primary backup is in the same mold, so the offense doesn’t change radically if Kaepernick should be injured.
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Among veteran free-agent mobile quarterbacks expected to be available are Josh Freeman, Jake Locker, Michael Vick and Tarvaris Jackson. Freeman and Locker, both 27, are younger than Vick (35) and Jackson (32), so might be more appealing.
Or, the 49ers could try to add a mobile backup through the draft, too. But the Niners would likely be more comfortable with a No. 2 QB with some NFL experience.
The search for a backup quarterback isn’t as high-profile as the team’s search for other positions of need – at wide receiver, cornerback and both lines, for instance – but it certainly could loom very important, wrote Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee this week.
“All the rhetoric from coaches, owner over the last few days has been pointing toward more running and read-option for Colin Kaepernick in 2015,” he wrote. “That of course increases the risk of injury and means he needs an adequate backup who can run the same offense.”
