Jim Harbaugh calls Blaine Gabbert ‘the guy’ for 49ers backup QB job

Since being drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the No. 10 pick in the 2010 draft, now-San Fransico 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert has played very little good football.

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He has a career 66.4 passer rating and 24 interceptions compared to just 22 touchdowns. And through two weeks of his first preseason as a 49er, he’s just 11-25 passing for 60 yards with two interceptions (17.9 passer rating).

Despite all of that, it seems Gabbert is the favorite to be No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart behind Colin Kaepernick when the 2014 season rolls around.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh to the Sacramento Bee:

"“Blaine is that guy right now,” Harbaugh said of the No. 2 quarterback."

Gabbert’s top competition, Josh Johnson and McLeod Bethel-Thompson, have also struggled during preseason play, but Harbaugh downplayed the importance of the three quarterbacks’ bad showings.

"“I don’t judge it off just those,” Harbaugh said of the bleak statistics his quarterbacks have accumulated. “I’ve been pretty clear what I thought we needed to get better as, as a unit. Team-oriented offense that has precision and plays wells together, all 11, and that’s what we’re going to be striving for."

Regardless of who ultimately wins the job, it’s clear the Niners desperately need Kaepernick to remain healthy, because San Fran would not go very far with either one of these three other signal callers running the show.

Kaepernick threw for 3,197 yards, 21 touchdowns and eight interception this past season.

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