49ers add another QB in ex-Texan Tom Savage

The 49ers purchased quarterback insurance Tuesday afternoon.

They signed Tom Savage to a oneyear deal. For now, he’s the emergency third-string quarterback behind starter C.J. Beathard and backup Nick Mullens. But Savage could rise up the depth chart if one of those two gets injured or underperforms. Savage has more experience than both of them. He has started nine games in the NFL. Beathard has started eight. Mullens has started zero.

Savage, 28, was a fourth-round pick in 2014, when 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. That year they needed a quarterback, and Shanahan urged the front office to draft either Tom Savage or Jimmy Garoppolo, according to a report from ESPN. The Browns ignored Shanahan’s advice and drafted Johnny Manziel, who’s out of the NFL. The Houston Texans drafted Savage.

“He has a strong arm,” Shanahan said Tuesday on a conference call. “He’s a very tough player. He hangs in that pocket and plays the position well. I was a fan of his coming out of college. He has gotten to play in a number of NFL games, so he’s battle tested. He was in a tough situation in Houston that didn’t work out for him.”

In four seasons with the Texans, Savage appeared in 13 games, completed 57.5 percent of his throws, passed for 2,000 yards, threw five touchdown passes and seven interceptions and posted a quarterback rating of 72.5. Subpar numbers.

He entered last season as the Texans starting quarterback. But they benched him Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars and replaced him with rookie first-round pick Deshaun Watson, who played well and kept the job.