The 49ers tough decisions under center didn’t end when they decided to trade Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
Now they’ll have to decide how they want to operate with their 53-man roster and whether they want to keep QB Brandon Allen. They could also release him and risk him signing on with another team instead of returning to San Francisco’s practice squad.
Allen received high praise from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan after OTAs, but his reps diminished greatly while he sat behind both Sam Darnold and Trey Lance for most of the preseason. His final preseason outing wasn’t inspiring either, leaving open the door for the 49ers to release him and find a different third QB if Allen doesn’t make it back to them.
Typically the 49ers have had three QBs in the building, even if it’s two on the roster and one on the practice squad. With the new emergency QB rule that allows teams to designate an emergency QB on game days, it’s tough to imagine San Francisco not taking advantage of that given their injury woes at the position last year.
Teams have already started the process of cutting down their rosters, and some interesting names are available. Here are seven players who could hold down the third QB spot this year in San Francisco: