Without a quarterback on their roster at the beginning of the free agency period, the San Francisco 49ers’ new regime of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan wasted no time in adding two signal callers to their roster.
As of now, Brian Hoyer is expected to be the 49ers’ opening day starter in 2017, and a bridge option as the team either develops a young quarterback, or elects to pursue someone like Kirk Cousins next year in free agency.
Former NFL executive and current NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly believes that Hoyer is a fine short term option, but that 49ers fans should expect to see a regression in his play throughout the season.
“Well just go to Cleveland see, that’s an example,” Casserly said on Murph and Mac. “He got off to a good start there and in fact they had a winning record, but as the season goes on, the accuracy to me begins to come apart some. The decision making comes apart some. So just the overall consistency. He’s a good leader, he’s smart. He’ll be able to run the system. If you get a young quarterback he’ll be able to teach them, but he’s going to hit a wall during the season. That’s what’s happened before.”
Under Shanahan in 2014, Hoyer led the Browns to a 7-4 start to the season, before losing his last three and missing the playoffs.
Casserly also gave his two cents on Cousins, who has been rumored to be the 49ers quarterback of the future. Despite his stock being at an all-time high, Casserly does not believe he is a top 10 quarterback.
“No I don’t think he is but I do like him as a quarterback,” Casserly said. “Just because he’s not a top 10 quarterback doesn’t mean you can’t like him and you can’t win with him. I think what he has to do to take the next step, and he’s taken a lot of steps here in the last two years, and there’s no reason why he can’t do it because the arrow is still up. You love his competitiveness, his leadership and work ethic, and he does have throwing talent.
“He’s gotta kind’ve overcome that last part: winning the big game at the end of the year, which he hasn’t done, but I still think the arrow is up. He’s still better than a lot of quarterbacks in the league, but I don’t think he’s a top 10 quarterback.”
Listen to the full interview below.
