Former Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez got his first shot to prove he belongs on the San Francisco 49ers' roster on Friday. Unfortunately, he may not have put his best foot forward. In fact, more than a few analysts around the team believe his role in the team’s 19-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans might have been a big step toward playing his way off the roster.
Martinez is in a pitched battle for the third quarterback spot behind Brock Purdy and Mac Jones. He’s facing off against former Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke, and the two competitors were effectively given Friday’s preseason game to square off.
The ex-Hoosier star started and played well on Friday, though he suffered an injury that saw him leave the game earlier than was likely planned. Even with the premature exit, he was an efficient 12-of-14 for 101 yards. The former Nebraska and Kansas State star then entered the game and had some good moments, but overall looked like an obvious downgrade.
Martinez completed 16 of 30 passes for 159 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown, but he also didn’t throw an interception. However, he was also sacked twice for a total of 22 yards lost.
Adrian Martinez keeps the play alive and Khalil Herbert breaks a pair of tackles to pick up a first down 😤
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Former Nebraska football QB Adrian Martinez trails Kurtis Rourke for 49ers roster spot
The ex-Husker has long been able to make his legs a weapon that NFL teams have coveted enough that he tends to make practice squads at the very least; however, he didn’t do much damage there either. Martinez carried just two times for 18 yards.
The bigger issue for Martinez than his so-so performance while playing most of the game is that he entered Friday’s preseason game already considered to be trailing in the race for QB3. He needed to really outshine Rourke to leapfrog him and get the inside track.
The other issue is that it’s unlikely the ex-Nebraska QB1 will get another outing this preseason as extensive as Friday’s was. While he’ll likely get to see some downs in the second and third games, he almost surely won’t get to throw 30 passes or show off his running ability as he did against the Titans.
Adrian Martinez started 38 games and finished with a 14-24 record as Nebraska's starting quarterback. He had arguably his most promising season his first year in Lincoln, throwing for 2,617 yards and 17 touchdowns while rushing for 629 yards and eight scores as a true freshman. Injuries and uneven play saw the successive seasons never really approach that first year as a Husker.
In his third season with Nebraska, he even briefly lost his starting job to Luke McCaffrey, though he eventually won it back. He finished his Cornhusker career with 8,491 yards, 45 touchdowns, 30 interceptions, and another 2,301 yards rushing with another 35 scores. Thanks to the 2020 COVID year, Martinez got an extra year of eligibility, and he used it by transferring to Kansas State.
With the Wildcats, he showed the same flashes he did at Nebraska, though injuries hampered his final collegiate season. He still threw for 1,261 yards, 6 touchdowns and 1 interception while rushing for 627 yards and another 10 scores.
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