Per the San Francisco Chronicle's Rick Barrows, Rourke's dazzling preseason debut last week has increased the odds San Francisco trades Jones before the NFL's Nov. 10 deadline, though that is explicitly described as informed opinion rather than a sourced report.
What Rourke Actually Did
The seventh-round pick from 2025 spent his rookie year on the non-football injury list recovering from a torn ACL, so Thursday's preseason opener against the Titans was his first game action in 601 days.
He made it count, completing 12 of 14 passes for 101 yards while facing much of Tennessee's first-string defense, good for a 96.7 passer rating before a rib injury cut his night short.
Per 49ers Webzone, that performance forced a conversation the coaching staff wasn't planning to have this early: what do you do with three quarterbacks you actually like? Rourke beat out fellow backup Adrian Martinez for those reps and, in the outlet's words, "made it look easy."
Why This Actually Matters For A Trade
San Francisco was already open to moving Jones this offseason, but no team met their asking price, reportedly at least a second-round pick, and head coach Kyle Shanahan sounded disappointed in April when no deal materialized.
Jones is set for free agency next spring and would presumably prefer a real shot at starting somewhere over serving as a $3.55 million backup for a third straight year.
Rourke's flash of promise is what changes things. If the 49ers believe their third-stringer can handle real backup snaps behind Purdy, trading Jones stops being a risk and more like something that would be the smart thing to do.
The Indianapolis Colts have emerged as a fit given quarterback Daniel Jones' health questions after a gruesome injury ended his 2025 season, though Indianapolis may lean toward pursuing Rourke instead if it came down to a choice between the two.
Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox has separately floated a three-team scenario built around sending Jones to the New York Jets.
In-season quarterback trades remain rare, with only six occurring across the league since 2015, which is part of why nothing here should be treated as close to happening.
