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After a day of rumors that the 49ers were shopping back-up quarterback Colt McCoy, and reports that he re-negotiated his contract to a lower base salary, Jim Harbaugh gave a tacit endorsement of Colt McCoy as the team's backup QB. Harbaugh said that he "feel[s] really good that Colt is the backup."
This has everybody jumping on this as news that he is naming McCoy the backup QB. It is possible Colt McCoy will head into Week 1 of the regular season with that job, but this seems to fit into Coach Harbaugh's occasionally random musings that are not always quite what we think they are.
Based on that, it seems like he is happy with what McCoy did Sunday evening, but is not exactly providing a more firm endorsement. McCoy entered the game seemingly embattled as the team was trying to sort through their backup QB situation. The team signed Seneca Wallace, saw great work from B.J. Daniels in Week 2, and still didn't seem to know what was up with Scott Tolzien. The whole situation was just a mess.
As Sunday's game wore on, you could tell the team was trying to do something with McCoy. He got the most snaps of any of the quarterbacks, with B.J. Daniels and Kap behind him, Seneca Wallace coming on for the final minute, and Scott Tolzien riding the bench. What we thought was a chance for McCoy to create a trade market, but maybe it was also a chance for Harbaugh to see if he would fight back.
McCoy did not have a great performance, but he was reasonably solid. He completed 11 of 15 passes for 109 yards and an interception. The 49ers scored a touchdown on his last series. It was not a particularly dynamic offensive attack, but it showed that the team could do some things if the 49ers needed to go to their backup quarterback.
It will never be an ideal situation if McCoy or any other QB has to enter the game for Kap, but the team just needs somebody who can hold things together. It would seem like McCoy would be that guy. He has more experience than Tolzien and Daniels, and more time in the offense than Wallace. It's not perfect, but no backup QB situation is in the NFL.
Now, we will wait and see if this does in fact mean Colt McCoy is the backup quarterback in two weeks. Things can change in a heart-beat. Based on what we've seen so far, is McCoy a decent backup option? Do you think Daniels is really ready to be the No. 2? Or do we need to pump the brakes and wait one more week?