San Francisco 49ers: Brian Hoyer, Matt Barkley auditioning for 2018 backup role
With Kirk Cousins not agreeing to a long-term deal in Washington, it is clear Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley are auditioning to the San Francisco 49ers backup in 2018.
When Brian Hoyer was signed by the San Francisco 49ers in the offseason, it was widely accepted he had been brought in as a stopgap option. Now, with the news Kirk Cousins did not sign to a long-term deal with the Washington Redskins before the deadline for franchise-tagged players, it is clear the 2017 season will be an extended audition for Hoyer and backup Matt Barkley for 2018.
The 49ers have long since been touted as a landing spot for Cousins, due to his prior experience of working with head coach Kyle Shanahan in Washington. And they have the cap space to make him a San Francisco player next offseason should he not be hit with the franchise tag again.
Per, Over The Cap, the Niners have close to $67 million in cap space and, with the cap set to rise again next year, that figure is only going to increase.
If the #49ers roll over all of their current $66 million in salary cap, the team should have roughly $115 million in 2018 cap space. https://t.co/uqvkvEeHO6
— Rob Lowder (@Rob_Lowder) July 18, 2017
With the level of outlay available to them, the 49ers are in position to pay Cousins an average salary above the $25.05 million earned by Derek Carr — who the Oakland Raiders made the highest-paid player in NFL history. Hoyer and Matt Barkley are both signed to two-year contracts that are easy for the Niners to get out of.
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C.J. Beathard was drafted as somebody the 49ers can develop and, therefore, seems likely to remain on the roster for more than just one year, meaning one of Hoyer or Barkley is probably gone should Cousins arrive. In effect, Hoyer and Barkley are competing to potentially be Cousins’ backup in 2018.
Hoyer has the head start going into the year as the presumptive starter, but has never played all 16 games in a season. So there is hope for Barkley, who filled in for an injured Hoyer in 2016 with the Chicago Bears. But a backup spot in 2018 is far from guaranteed for whoever has the better season of the two.
Cousins obviously has experience in the Shanahan system and the 49ers head coach will want a backup on the roster who is also well versed in the scheme. However, there is more than a chance that come next year Beathard will be comfortable enough with the offense for the 49ers to be happy rolling with him backing up Cousins and adding another rookie from a deep 2018 class.
Even if the 49ers miss out on Cousins next year, the draft capital of a San Francisco team expected to be picking high again next year would put the Niners in a good position to land one of the top quarterback talents from an extremely talented pool, again leaving only one of Hoyer or Barkley likely to keep their spot on the roster.
Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Pre-training camp
The combination of Cousins’ likely availability and the depth of quality in the 2018 class is a bad one for Hoyer and Barkley. And whoever plays the greater amount of games in 2017 will need to be much more than just a placeholder to be sure of locking down a place on next year’s depth chart.