Are there any free agent quarterbacks the 49ers should take a look at?

The NFL season is winding down which means some players have contracts ending. Some players will get franchised or extended but others will be hitting the open market. We’ll take a look at each position and see if any hopeful players would be a good fit for the San Francisco 49ers.

I almost wanted to not even bother with the quarterback free agents. The 49ers are set at the position. Jimmy Garoppolo is the starter once he returns from a knee injury and the winner of the Nick Mullens/C.J. Beathard backup competition will be right behind him. If the 49ers were to take a third quarterback, it wouldn’t be a free agent, rather I’d see them getting someone off the practice squad.

If the 49ers go to free agency, they may be stuck playing roster musical chairs with the acquisition like they did with Tom Savage. They could go back to Jack Heneghan, who they brought to training camp and cut as they made their way to the 53-man roster, or they could go with a new UDFA entirely.

The crop of free agent quarterbacks is (obviously) small. Teddy Bridgewater is available, but either the New Orleans Saints are going to lock him up as the quarterback of the future, or he’ll go somewhere he can start. Matt Schaub could be a great backup to the 49ers; he played under Shanahan while both were with the Houston Texans and also was Matt Ryan’s backup during Shanahan’s time with the Atlanta Falcons. He knows the playbook well and could be useful. The thing to keep in mind on that is Schaub turns 38 in June, and there’s a reason he’s a backup—he got benched in Houston after his play suffered. How bad was it? He got in the record books with most consecutive games with a pick-six.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is available as well. It is doubtful he returns to Tampa Bay after all that merry-go-round he shared with Jameis Winston. Whether he starts or not, he may want to get a change of scenary. Fitzpatrick had some great games. He also had some incredibly awful ones in 2018.

And then on the other end of the spectrum is Brock Osweiler. If you really, really, REALLY want him as a 49er, you can petition the team to go sign him.

Here’s your free agent quarterbacks per Over the Cap. Things could change with franchise tags and deals, but all of the below have contracts expiring. Would you be interested in any of these quarterbacks, any of them, coming to Santa Clara?