49ers sign QB Josh Johnson to a one-year deal

On Sunday night, the 49ers signed quarterback Josh Johnson to the practice squad after Jimmy Garoppolo broke his foot during the Miami Dolphins game. On Tuesday afternoon, the team announced they signed Johnson to a one-year deal. Johnson has been with the Niners in ‘12, ‘14, ‘20, and now ‘22. They should leave his locker open until Johnson retires.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan was asked Monday afternoon why the team was interested in Johnson’s services:

“Just having him here in 2020 for that last month of the year, we got to see a lot of him just as a player, which we like the player, but more importantly, we really like the guy. I think that’s why he has been around for so long and so many places continue to bring him back because he is a natural leader.

Guys like playing with him, guys like playing around him, he has a skillset that can go in and give you a chance to win and a person we really believe in and we feel fortunate to get him back here.”

I don’t want to jinx it, but I would imagine this signing eliminates San Francisco from adding Baker Mayfield. It would have been difficult to get Mayfield up to speed, but Johnson knows the playbook, and Shanahan knows the person, so this was an easy decision.

Check out where Mayfield is:

You want to be up and to the right. As you can see, that’s not where Baker is. The 49ers are wise to push their chips in on Brock Purdy, especially with how he looked on third downs and against free rushers:

We’ll get into how Purdy looked against the Dolphins on Wednesday.

The 49ers quarterbacks are now Brock Purdy, backed up by Josh Johnson, with Jacob Eason remaining on the practice squad.