The 49ers already are crossing off Tom Brady as a quarterbacking possibility, and it sounds like Aaron Rodgers won’t be in the mix either.
According to San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, the Niners already have two starting-caliber quarterbacks on the roster and signed through 2023: Trey Lance and Brock Purdy.
Those statements didn’t stop speculation that San Francisco would go out and try to land at least one of the two generational talents with ties to Northern California, though.
One of those names, Tom Brady, just removed himself from consideration by retiring (again) in an announcement earlier this week, and the soon-to-be free agent will finally call it a career after establishing himself as the greatest of all time.
With Brady out of the picture, the 49ers could still turn to another boyhood Niners fan in Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, right?
Right?
Aaron Rodgers denies rumors of playing for 49ers in 2023
Unlike Brady, who’d hit free agency this offseason, Rodgers is still under contract with the Packers, and it would take a lucrative package for any team wishing to trade for him.
San Francisco, which doesn’t have a first- or second-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, likely lacks the capital needed to convince Green Bay to even pick up the phone with regard to a would-be trade.
Plus, the Packers have denied the 49ers’ previous efforts to trade for Rodgers anyway.
Perhaps Rodgers knows this and said as much from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, telling CBS Sports’ Colt Knost, “I’m not going to San Fran.”
https://twitter.com/GolfonCBS/status/1621011447860830211
Or, after the 49ers have ended all four of Rodgers’ postseason campaigns against them, perhaps he doesn’t want to give Niners fans the satisfaction of saying, “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”
San Francisco didn’t appear interested anyway, and Shanahan also told reporters the 49ers weren’t likely to add any big names to reinforce the quarterback room heading into 2023.
It’s looking as if that’ll mean Rodgers, too.