No one is going to truly fault the San Francisco 49ers for using one of their three seventh-round picks from the 2025 NFL Draft on Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
After all, it's never a bad strategy to draft a signal-caller on a year-to-year basis. The Niners found this out in 2022 when they used that year's final pick on Brock Purdy, who went from Mr. Irrelevant in that year's class to being very, very relevant in a short amount of time.
Rourke's chances of following a similar trajectory are awfully slim, of course. But that's not the reason behind any would-be criticism of the selection by general manager John Lynch and Co. during the draft's final round.
Instead, it's the likelihood Rourke isn't even ready to play by the time regular-season rosters are announced.
Did 49ers waste a draft pick on an injured player?
Rourke has his upsides, and no one would question his toughness after playing through a torn ACL during his final collegiate season at Indiana.
But therein is the problem.
While the decision to play through the injury is admirable, it also delayed Rourke's subsequent surgery, which means he'll assuredly miss the entirety of San Francisco's offseason program and will likely start his rookie year on the non-football injury (this can include college injuries) list. And the 49ers likely won't be in any sort of rush to get him onto the field.
"We took him with the understanding that he's not going to likely be cleared until training camp," Lynch told NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco. "But we just felt like there was a lot of talent, a lot of ability. The guy plays the game the right way."
That makes sense if the Niners saw Rourke as a luxury pick. In light of their various roster holes entering the draft, though, using even a seventh-round flier on an injured quarterback who potentially won't even be ready this year seems like a waste.
Lynch might have a tough time continuing to justify that.
