Each year, we like to run a series of posts called "90-in-90." The idea is that we'll take a look at every player on the roster, from the very bottom to the top and break them down a few ways. This roster will certainly change, and some days we'll have more than one so it's not exactly 90 players in 90 days. At this point, it's a name we're keeping around for street cred.
Few positions inspire as much undeserved love as the third- or fourth-string quarterback position here at Niners Nation. Nate Davis was one of those players that everybody loved, which probably had a lot to do with the fact that guys like J.T. O'Sullivan were winning "camp battles" to start at quarterback for our San Francisco 49ers.
The arrival of Colin Kaepernick may have actually stemmed the flood of praise for unproven quarterbacks, though. When you're generally satisfied in a player, you no longer have to place a bunch of false hope in someone who might be able to take over someday.
If Kory Faulkner had happened along a few years ago, 49ers fans would probably be pretty into him. Instead, he's not exactly mentioned much.
Faulkner is a solid quarterback. He's incredibly raw, but one thing I really like about him: his instincts. He makes fast decisions, and they're usually the right ones. Greg Roman observed that Faulkner likely developed this ability while running for his life behind a terrible offensive line in college, and I'm inclined to agree. Every play for him there broke down like this:
Take the snap, drop back, avoid the rush, go through progressions.
He's very solid at throwing over the middle, has a good throwing motion and I guess what I'm trying to say is that I like him. I'm not certain Roman is totally right when he says that Faulkner is the kind of guy you could give the keys to someday, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong, of course.
His best season with the Southern Illinois Salukis saw him complete 165 of 272 attempts for 1,997 yards with 18 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Expected 2014 impact:
Little to none at this point. Faulkner is not going to take any meaningful snaps in any scenario, not this year. Blaine Gabbert will likely be the backup and if they somehow carry Faulkner as the third guy, they'd sign someone off the street to play in the event that they thought they might actually need to get down to the third string.
Odds of making the roster:
The odds are pretty slim at this point, but it has nothing to do with the 49ers not liking him or anything. Faulkner is a prime candidate to be placed on the practice squad, as it's unlikely another team will find a spot for him on their roster. I suppose I could see a scenario in which the 49ers really don't like what they have in Gabbert as a backup (oh no), so they carry Faulkner on the 53-man roster. It's a very slim chance, however.