49ers have blank canvas at QB position entering 2017 signing period

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INDIANAPOLIS – With the expected formality of Colin Kaepernick opting out of his contract, the 49ers have no quarterbacks lined up for the 2017 season.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said he is lumping free-agents-to-be Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder and Thad Lewis into the same category with all the other quarterbacks who will be available for the 49ers this offseason.

“We don’t have anybody on our roster, so I throw them all in the category of everybody else who’s a free agent and the possibilities going into the draft,” Shanahan said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

”Those are the guys we’re comparing who you see in the free-agent market, who there is in the draft and trade possibilities and guys on the roster last year is who we’re picking from.”

The free-agent signing period begins on March 9. Over the next eight weeks, Shanahan will also be busy evaluating the crop of rookie quarterbacks – a process he is just now beginning, he said.

“I’ll spend this week getting to know these guys and watching a lot of tape back in the hotel room and have an idea of who everybody is, just from the interview process,” Shanahan said.

 

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