How at ease are the 49ers with Brock Purdy as their backup quarterback?
Late in Saturday’s preseason opener, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joshua Dobbs dropped back to pass, scanned the field, evaded pressure from his right, stepped forward and raced toward the goal line as Tennessee Titans defenders gave chase. As Dobbs neared the end zone, he attempted to hurdle one of them, taking contact midair as he flipped over to break the plane for a 6-yard score.
For most starting quarterbacks, such a play in the preseason wouldn’t be worth the risk, but this is nothing new for Dobbs. Such is life as a backup jockeying for depth chart position with fellow veteran Brandon Allen behind starter Brock Purdy.
“I thought they did a good job,” coach Kyle Shanahan said of Dobbs and Allen. “I thought both of them made some plays.”
In San Francisco, as much as anywhere in the NFL, the backup quarterback job has been one of the most important on the roster in recent years. Under general manager John Lynch and Shanahan, the Niners have had a starting quarterback miss at least one game because of injury in all but two seasons out of their seven in charge.
Purdy became the second to not miss a contest with some kind of injury in 2023, only missing the regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams because San Francisco had already wrapped up the NFC’s top seed.
With Purdy entrenched and an offseason with no starting quarterback drama for the first time in years, the 49ers aren’t completely without competition at the position. Backup Sam Darnold departed in free agency for the Minnesota Vikings, leaving the Niners to quickly re-sign Allen. Not long after, they brought in Dobbs to compete.
The hope is that Purdy will again stay healthy and handle the vast majority of the snaps. If he can’t, the 49ers will need Allen and/or Dobbs to be ready to take over and ensure an offense loaded with talent doesn’t miss a beat.
“You never know what’s going to happen, but I feel really good about the two guys that we have competing for the backup job, veteran guys that have been there,” quarterbacks coach Brian Griese said. “We’ve got a veteran team that has designs on winning a championship, so you need to have security at that position.”
Of the two competing for the job, Allen is the more known commodity in San Francisco. He arrived as something of an afterthought in 2023, sitting fourth on the depth chart behind Purdy, Darnold and Trey Lance.
Entering his second year in the 49ers’ offense, Brandon Allen enjoys the battle for backup QB spot. AP Photo/John Amis
As last year’s camp wore on, Allen continued to impress with his ability to grasp the offense and underrated arm strength, particularly working the intermediate middle of the field, as Shanahan’s offense requires.
Allen didn’t play a snap during the regular season or playoffs in 2023, but his experience in the offense gave him something of a leg up on Dobbs entering this campaign.
Through camp, Allen has worked mostly with the No. 2 offense, and he started against the Titans, going 7-of-13 for 98 yards in his 25 first-half snaps. Those numbers could have been better with a little help from his teammates, though, as wideouts Tay Martin and Ronnie Bell failed to come down with a pair of catchable deep throws.
Regardless of the stats, Allen looked plenty comfortable in the offense with that year under his belt.
“Part of signing back as quick as I did, I wanted an opportunity to have a chance at the two, knowing full well they could bring someone in and have me compete for it,” Allen said. “And I think me and Josh have had a pretty good competition going so far. I think we push each other every day on the practice field and really as a QB group as a whole.”
For Dobbs, anything even remotely resembling stability is a welcome sight. He started 2023 with the Cleveland Browns after signing as a free agent. On Aug. 24 of last year, the Browns traded him to the Arizona Cardinals, with whom he quickly won the starting job as Kyler Murray worked back from injury. Then, after Kirk Cousins suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, the Vikings traded for Dobbs, who was again quickly thrown into the mix.
It was a whirlwind for Dobbs, who went from having started just two games in his previous six campaigns to a combined 12 starts for two teams in the same season.
“I think crazy is the simplest term to define it,” Dobbs said. “It seemed like every time you kind of got settled, it was like, OK, let’s go learn a new offense, learn new teammates, learn a new city and try to get reacclimated to go out and play good football.
“I enjoyed the experience but ideally don’t want to go through another crazy season such as that. But I take it one day at a time and embrace each opportunity that I’m given.”
When Dobbs hit free agency again this offseason, he was drawn to the idea of playing for Shanahan, who has a reputation for squeezing maximum production from his quarterbacks. Dobbs was on the opposite sideline when Purdy had just one incompletion in a near perfect game against Arizona on Oct. 1 last season. That game left an impression on Dobbs, who filed it away in case the opportunity to play in San Francisco ever presented itself.
When it did, Dobbs jumped at the chance, signing a one-year deal with the Niners on March 19. Yes, it meant he’d have to learn yet another system and playbook, but Dobbs, known as “The Passtronaut” because of his degree in aerospace engineering, has learned quickly enough to push Allen for the backup job.
Griese said Dobbs picked up the offense within the first two weeks and joked that if his daughter needs help with her calculus class, he can turn to Dobbs.
“He’s in his fourth offense I think in a year’s time,” Griese said. “I think we operate a little bit differently just in talking with him as to the emphasis that we put in certain things. So, it’s really been about him getting used to that and the timing and the rhythm of the offense, how we want to read it, how we want to execute it. And that’s going to take time.”
Against the Titans, Dobbs went 14-of-20 for 146 yards with a rushing score and an interception thrown on a last-minute Hail Mary. After a rough start to camp, there have been plenty of signs of progress for Dobbs in practice in recent weeks.
Your League, Your Rules
All of which is why the next couple of preseason games will go a long way in determining who holds that ever-important position behind Purdy when the season starts. Allen has the experience in the system, but Dobbs brings more of a dual-threat potential. Both can make a case in a battle that is currently too close to call.
“If it is a real tough decision, that’s a good problem because they’re both playing so well that we eventually got to make a decision,” Shanahan said. “I feel pretty confident one of them will separate themselves as it goes.”
