List of San Francisco 49ers starting quarterbacks
Updated: 12/20/2025, 12:12:57 PM Wikipedia source
These quarterbacks have started at least one game for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. They are listed in order of the date of each player's first start at quarterback for the 49ers. The early era of the NFL and American football in general was not conducive to passing the football, with the forward pass not being legalized until the early 1900s and not fully adopted for many more years. Although the quarterback position has historically been the one to receive the snap and thus handle the football on every offensive play, the importance of the position during this era was limited by various rules, like having to be five yards behind the line of scrimmage before a forward pass could be attempted. These rules and the tactical focus on rushing the ball limited the importance of the quarterback position while enhancing the value of different types of backs, such as the halfback and the fullback. Some of these backs were considered triple-threat men, capable of rushing, passing or kicking the football, making it common for multiple players to attempt a pass during a game. As rules changed and the NFL began adopting a more pass-centric approach to offensive football, the importance of the quarterback position grew. Beginning in 1950, total wins and losses by a team's starting quarterback were tracked. Prior to 1950, the combination of unreliable statistics in the early era of the NFL and the differences in the early quarterback position make tracking starts by quarterbacks impractical for this timeframe.
Tables
| Season(s) | Quarterback(s) |
| 1950 | Frankie Albert (12) |
| 1951 | Frankie Albert (11) / Y. A. Tittle (1) |
| 1952 | Frankie Albert (7) / Y. A. Tittle (5) |
| 1953 | Y. A. Tittle (10) / Jim Powers (2) |
| 1954 | Y. A. Tittle (11) / Jim Cason (1) |
| 1955 | Y. A. Tittle (12) |
| 1956 | Y. A. Tittle (8) / Earl Morrall (4) |
| 1957 | Y. A. Tittle (11) / John Brodie (1) |
| 1958 | Y. A. Tittle (6) / John Brodie (6) |
| 1959 | Y. A. Tittle (10) / John Brodie (2) |
| 1960 | John Brodie (8) / Y. A. Tittle (4) |
| 1961 | John Brodie (14) |
| 1962 | John Brodie (14) |
| 1963 | Lamar McHan (9) / John Brodie (3) / Bob Waters (2) |
| 1964 | John Brodie (12) / George Mira (2) |
| 1965 | John Brodie (13) / George Mira (1) |
| 1966 | John Brodie (13) / George Mira (1) |
| 1967 | John Brodie (10) / George Mira (2) / Steve Spurrier (2) |
| 1968 | John Brodie (14) |
| 1969 | John Brodie (10) / Steve Spurrier (4) |
| 1970 | John Brodie (14) |
| 1971 | John Brodie (14) |
| 1972 | Steve Spurrier (9) / John Brodie (5) |
| 1973 | John Brodie (6) / Steve Spurrier (5) / Joe Reed (3) |
| 1974 | Tom Owen (7) / Joe Reed (4) / Dennis Morrison (2) / Norm Snead (1) |
| 1975 | Norm Snead (7) / Steve Spurrier (6) / Tom Owen (1) |
| 1976 | Jim Plunkett (12) / Scott Bull (2) |
| 1977 | Jim Plunkett (14) |
| 1978 | Steve DeBerg (11) / Scott Bull (5) |
| 1979 | Steve DeBerg (15) / Joe Montana (1) |
| 1980 | Steve DeBerg (9) / Joe Montana (7) |
| 1981 | Joe Montana (16) |
| 1982 | Joe Montana (9) |
| 1983 | Joe Montana (16) |
| 1984 | Joe Montana (15) / Matt Cavanaugh (1) |
| 1985 | Joe Montana (15) / Matt Cavanaugh (1) |
| 1986 | Joe Montana (8) / Jeff Kemp (6) / Mike Moroski (2) |
| 1987 | Joe Montana (11) / Steve Young (3) / Bob Gagliano (1) |
| 1988 | Joe Montana (13) / Steve Young (3) |
| 1989 | Joe Montana (13) / Steve Young (3) |
| 1990 | Joe Montana (15) / Steve Young (1) |
| 1991 | Steve Young (10) / Steve Bono (6) |
| 1992 | Steve Young (16) |
| 1993 | Steve Young (16) |
| 1994 | Steve Young (16) |
| 1995 | Steve Young (11) / Elvis Grbac (5) |
| 1996 | Steve Young (12) / Elvis Grbac (4) |
| 1997 | Steve Young (15) / Jim Druckenmiller (1) |
| 1998 | Steve Young (15) / Ty Detmer (1) |
| Season | Quarterback(s) |
| 1957 | Y. A. Tittle (0–1) |
| 1970 | John Brodie (1–1) |
| 1971 | John Brodie (1–1) |
| 1972 | John Brodie (0–1) |
| 1981 | Joe Montana (3–0) |
| 1983 | Joe Montana (1–1) |
| 1984 | Joe Montana (3–0) |
| 1985 | Joe Montana (0–1) |
| 1986 | Joe Montana (0–1) |
| 1987 | Joe Montana (0–1) |
| 1988 | Joe Montana (3–0) |
| 1989 | Joe Montana (3–0) |
| 1990 | Joe Montana (1–1) |
| 1992 | Steve Young (1–1) |
| 1993 | Steve Young (1–1) |
| 1994 | Steve Young (3–0) |
| 1995 | Steve Young (0–1) |
| 1996 | Steve Young (1–1) |
| 1997 | Steve Young (1–1) |
| 1998 | Steve Young (1–1) |
| 2001 | Jeff Garcia (0–1) |
| 2002 | Jeff Garcia (1–1) |
| 2011 | Alex Smith (1–1) |
| 2012 | Colin Kaepernick (2–1) |
| 2013 | Colin Kaepernick (2–1) |
| 2019 | Jimmy Garoppolo (2–1) |
| 2021 | Jimmy Garoppolo (2–1) |
| 2022 | Brock Purdy (2–1) |
| 2023 | Brock Purdy (2–1) |
| Name | |
| GP | Games played |
| GS | Games started |
| W | Number of wins as starting quarterback |
| L | Number of losses as starting quarterback |
| T | Number of ties as starting quarterback |
| Pct | Winning percentage as starting quarterback |
| Name | Period | GP | GS | W | L | T | % |
| John Brodie | 1957–1973 | 201 | 159 | 74 | 77 | 8 | 491 |
| Joe Montana | 1979–1992 | 168 | 140 | 101 | 39 | — | 721 |
| Steve Young | 1987–1999 | 150 | 124 | 91 | 33 | — | 734 |
| Y. A. Tittle | 1951–1960 | 112 | 79 | 46 | 31 | 2 | 595 |
| Alex Smith | 2005–2012 | 80 | 75 | 38 | 36 | 1 | 513 |
| Jeff Garcia | 1999–2003 | 74 | 71 | 35 | 36 | — | 493 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 2011–2016 | 69 | 58 | 28 | 30 | — | 483 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 2017–2022 | 57 | 55 | 38 | 17 | — | 691 |
| Name | Comp | Att | % | Yds | TD | Int |
| Joe Montana | 2,929 | 4,600 | 63.7 | 35,124 | 244 | 123 |
| John Brodie | 2,469 | 4,491 | 55.0 | 31,548 | 214 | 224 |
| Steve Young | 2,400 | 3,648 | 65.8 | 29,907 | 221 | 86 |
| Jeff Garcia | 1,449 | 2,360 | 61.4 | 16,408 | 113 | 56 |
| Alex Smith | 1,290 | 2,177 | 59.3 | 14,280 | 81 | 63 |
| Y. A. Tittle | 1,226 | 2,194 | 55.9 | 16,016 | 108 | 134 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 1,104 | 1,632 | 67.6 | 13,599 | 82 | 42 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 1,011 | 1,692 | 59.8 | 12,271 | 72 | 30 |
| Brock Purdy | 851 | 1,259 | 67.6 | 10,960 | 76 | 34 |
| Frankie Albert | 831 | 1,564 | 53.1 | 10,795 | 115 | 98 |
References
- ProFootballHoF.comhttps://www.profootballhof.com/blogs/2018/07/blogs-stories-from-the-pro-football-hall-of-fame-archives-passing-through-time-a-1930s-rule-change/
- Quarterbackhttps://www.netflix.com/title/81482895
- NFL.comhttps://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/evolution-of-the-nfl-rules/
- BleacherReport.comhttps://bleacherreport.com/articles/313993-5-wide-the-evolution-of-the-quarterback
- Packers.comhttps://www.packers.com/history/hof/paul-hornung
- Pro-Football-Reference.comhttps://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/career-passing.htm
- New York Daily Newshttps://www.nydailynews.com/2015/11/16/nfl-strike-ends-after-57-days-in-1982/