Report: Philip Rivers Was Going To Be 49ers’ Contingency Quarterback In Super Bowl 57
The San Francisco 49ers had a quarterback carousel throughout the 2022 NFL season. The 49ers started three quarterbacks and played four. The team lost Trey Lance to a broken right ankle in Week 2, then lost Jimmy Garoppolo to his left foot injury 11 weeks later.
Following Jimmy Garoppolo’s Week 13 foot injury, the 49ers reportedly engaged in discussions with retired quarterback Philip Rivers. Although Rivers remained in retirement, his presence could have been instrumental had the 49ers reached the Super Bowl.
“He was prepared to,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said Thursday, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “Now that’s stuff we talked about throughout the whole year. We would’ve had to have seen how that was for the Super Bowl, but that was the plan most of the year.”
Brock Purdy emerged as the breakout starter and a potential rookie of the year candidate. This all ended abruptly in the NFC Championship against the Philadelphia Eagles. In the first quarter, Purdy went down with an elbow injury and backup quarterback Josh Johnson went down with a concussion in the third quarter.
After this, Purdy attempted to come back in the game, but his elbow made his passes inaccurate and he risked further damage to his arm. Eventually, the 49ers had running back Christian McCaffery warming up his arm to see if he could pull off a miracle.
If the 49ers had somehow won the game, Garoppolo was planning on starting in his second Super Bowl, but the team would have needed a backup. Rivers may have been the guy. Rivers, now a head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School, downplayed what Shanahan is now claiming.
“I heard from a couple of teams just kind of checking in,” Rivers told AL.com in March. “I didn’t contact anyone, and I’m not going anywhere. Maybe some teams, with some guys going down, may have been just looking for a contingency plan, but nothing came of it.”
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