The 49ers already have three quarterbacks on their roster, but it never hurts to add more depth.
General manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan don't need to take a quarterback with one of their two first-round picks, but they might be tempted to use one of their five late-round picks on a signal-caller if the right player is available.
NFL Media's Tom Pelissero reported Monday that the 49ers have spoken to North Texas quarterback Mason Fine.
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"The 49ers have been in contact with Fine," Pelissero said on NFL Network on Monday, via 49ersWebzone.com. "He is one of many quarterbacks who are probably not going to get drafted here. Maybe he could slip into the seventh round. All those guys are going to have a tougher path to make an NFL roster this year, just because, without rookie minicamp, OTAs, mandatory minicamp, maybe even portions of training camp, they're just not going to get the reps and the opportunities to learn an offense and show coaches what they can do."
Fine put up monster numbers in four years with the Mean Green, throwing for 12,505 yards and 93 touchdowns during his collegiate career.
But Fine doesn't possess prototypical NFL size, standing at 5-foot-11 according to his NFL.com draft profile. Also, based on NFL.com's grades, Fine is the lowest-rated quarterback available in the draft. That likely has to do with his height.
But Kyler Murray is 5-foot-10 and was the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, so height isn't everything.
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If the 49ers draft Fine, he would be reunited with running back Jeff Wilson Jr. Fine and Wilson overlapped at North Texas in 2016 and 2017. Those two seasons just happened to be Wilson's best at North Texas, where he ran for a total of 2,151 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Fine, who played in Conference USA, has an advocate in former 49ers safety Merton Hanks, who just happens to be the Senior Associate Commissioner of Conference USA.
“We want to make sure and give our young men every opportunity to be viewed by NFL clubs,” Hanks told Matt Maiocco on a recent episode of The 49ers Insider Podcast. “So I tend to call my peer group around the NFL to make sure they’re paying attention to our players.
“Oh, I bug everybody, (including) the 49ers with John Lynch and Martin Mayhew, that whole staff. They do a great job of sourcing talent from Division III all the way up to the (power five). They go to where the good players are, and we have some good players in the conference.”
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As Maiocco noted, the 49ers currently have six Conference USA players on their roster, so the numbers could be in Fine's corner.