This week, the 49ers expanded their roster of quarterbacks to five with the addition of Seneca Wallace. Coach Jim Harbaugh said Friday that all five will play on Sunday night, when the 49ers host the Vikings on Sunday Night Football.
“Yeah, you split it up, you split it up five ways,” Harbaugh told reporters, via quotes distributed by the team.
Asked for clarification, Harbaugh said that, yes, Colin Kaepernick, Colt McCoy, Scott Tolzien, B.J. Daniels, and Wallace will play on Sunday.
“I anticipate that,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll see how Scott does today in practice after an off day. He had something that he was working through and wasn’t able to, wasn’t at full speed Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday or since the ballgame in Kansas City. We’ll see where he’s at today, and if he’s good to go and at 100 percent or close to it then we’ll split it up after Kap four ways.”
Harbaugh said McCoy will go second after Kaepernick.
The head coach also explained that the addition of Wallace doesn’t mean that the team lacks confidence in the current backups to Kaepernick.
“The fact that you could get an experienced quarterback like Seneca Wallace at this stage when you have seven-to-ten days ‘til there’s a final cut down to the final roster then a chance to bring him in to do more than just a workout,” Harbaugh said. “You get a chance to actually practice and play in a preseason game or two. So, I felt like there was no downside to doing that.”
If Kaepernick plays an entire half, as starters usually do in the third preseason game, that’ll leave roughly half of a quarter for each of the other four. Whichever of the five are left after Tuesday’s cut from 90 to 75 presumably will split the reps in the final preseason game.