LA Rams rival: Will the real 49ers QB please stand up

Okay, the LA Rams roster is on the mend, and after a complete roster survey, many of the presumptions of the team pivoting to the 2023 NFL season with a scarcity of talent and the lack of resources simply are not so. The front offense restocked the OL with seven new players during the 2022 NFL season, and there is evidence that the Rams roster for that group is better off than it was a year ago.

That is not something that we can say at this time of the season every year, as the injury assaults upon the Rams in the past have begun as early as OTAs before. This year was no exception, but the severity and number of injuries extended well beyond the LA Rams offensive line.

But it did stop short of the quarterback position, a position that appears to be in quite a state of confusion for the Rams’ NFC West Division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers started 2022 with three quarterbacks on the roster for the start of 2022. None were healthy enough to play in the NFC Championship Game. But, thanks to an injury to their fourth quarterback, Josh Johnson, an injured Brock Purdy was forced to return to the game despite suffering an injury earlier in the game himself.

Jimmy Garoppolo back to the 49ers?

So who will the LA Rams face twice in 2023? We know that Jimmy Garoppolo, the quarterback that NFL pundits hinted was on the move in 2022, will be a free agent this offseason. And there are some teams that could kick the tires on him.

That boils it all down to either Trey Lance, who has not gotten much experience despite entering his third NFL season, or Brock Purdy, who was surprisingly effective for the 49ers in 2022 in relief of both Lance and Garoppolo.

But he was injured in the NFC Championship Game as well:

So will the San Francisco 49ers themselves be in the market for a veteran quarterback in free agency? Perhaps. And if they end up bringing Jimmy Garoppolo back in 2023, I would not be surprised.

Purdy’s ability to run the 49ers’ offense so effectively may have been very costly to Jimmy G’s FMV, as he was a late-drafted rookie quarterback who proved to be quite effective at running the 49ers’ offense.

In the end, I expect that the 49ers will have plenty of reasons to stay with the hot-handed Purdy, let Lance back him up, but may even extend Jimmy Garoppolo. After all, NFL GMs had to see the same story that I did, that Brock Purdy can run that offense. And if he can, then almost any quarterback can, in theory. Why pay top dollar for a system quarterback?

In the end, Garoppolo’s biggest offer may be to re-sign to the offensive system that he knows so well. And that will give the 49ers three quarterbacks to sort through in 2023.