The San Francisco 49ers suddenly have depth on their quarterback depth chart.
The Niners welcomed back rookie seventh-round draft pick Kurtis Rourke, who spoke about his 21-day window to return being opened Monday.
Rourke has been on the non-football injury list his entire tenure with the 49ers while recovering from a knee injury that he had played on throughout his lone season at Indiana University.
Rourke, who San Francisco chose with the 227th overall pick in April, still managed to set the Hoosiers school record for single-season touchdowns last year (29) while playing on a torn ACL. Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza broke that record this season by throwing 33 TDs (and counting).
Fresh off their Week 14 bye, the Niners will host the Tennessee Titans (2-11) on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. PT.
Kurtis Rourke: It’s Good To Be Back On The Field
The 49ers have 21 days to either activate Rourke or place him on season-ending injured reserve. Rourke is likely to be the No. 3 quarterback for the 49ers behind starter Brock Purdy and backup Mac Jones.
Yet, even though he may not play a single snap this season, Rourke opened up about what it meant to him to even practice.
“It’s been over a year pretty much since I last played and practiced fully,” Rourke said, though he last played for Indiana football Dec. 20 in its 27-17 loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff first round. “It is just awesome to be out there and to be with the guys and to be on that schedule.”
Rourke and Purdy were both down for much of the 2025 season, since Purdy missed seven games with both toe and shoulder injuries. San Francisco somehow survived with just Jones taking every snap over that seven-week span, which is how it is 9-4 and has a 94 percent chance of making the NFC playoffs with four weeks left in the season.
This Year Has Not Been A Loss For Kurtis Rourke
Jones has proven he is NFL starting quarterback, and he is signed through 2026 at the bargain-basement rate of a $2.28 million salary-cap hit.
That means there will be more than one quarterback-needy team willing to part with a valuable draft pick for Jones’ services — either taking a flier on him as the full-season starter or to mentor a young first-round pick.
The New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns and/or Miami Dolphins all come to mind as potential landing spots for Jones, though the suitors are subject to change.
So getting Rourke on the field to learn the NFL speed, even in practice, is going to be huge for the 49ers. Barring something unforeseen, Rourke is likely to be Purdy’s primary backup quarterback in 2026 and would need to step in if something happened to the Niners starter.
“That’s why I was excited to get my practice window open,” Rourke said of learning and potentially growing ahead of the 2026 season. “This season, any type of practice will prepare me for next year, and that’s ultimately the goal, to help the team in any way possible. Being available is the best thing.”
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