49ers to Sign Quarterback Josh Johnson

The 49ers re-signed one of their old quarterbacks Friday morning. No, not Colin Kaepernick.

The 49ers re-signed one of their old quarterbacks Friday morning.

No, not Colin Kaepernick.

The 49ers re-signed Josh Johnson, who played for them in 2014 when Jim Harbaugh was the 49ers head coach, although “played” is the wrong verb. Johnson never played in a game for the 49ers. But he was on the team.

This time around, he’s on the practice squad, and still probably won’t play, unless Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard both get injured or COVID-19.

Technically, Johnson’s signing won’t be official until he passes COVID tests next week. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said he hopes to have Johnson at practice on Wednesday.

“I definitely wanted someone that had experience,” Shanahan explained. “Someone who's going to be on the practice squad, not get a lot of reps, but if something happened like what happened yesterday, where you just randomly lose a bunch of guys that you kind of plan for. With Jimmy (Garoppolo) not being available, we need three guys available, especially with the COVID type protocols and stuff. So, I wanted a guy who's done it before, been in the league. I've got a number of close friends in the league who have been with Josh and heard great things about him. I'm excited to get him in our building.”

Johnson is 34. He last played in 2018 when he started three games for Washington, won one, threw three touchdown passes and four interceptions and recorded a passer rating of 69.4.

Meaning Johnsons isn’t here to take Nick Mullens’ job as the starter while Jimmy Garoppolo is injured.

“It's firmly Nick,” Shanahan said. “As I've always kind of said, I feel real good with Nick and C.J. (Beathard). They're always pretty neck and neck for me, but I'm not going to just bounce them back and forth. So, something would have to happen to make a change. Nick wasn't the reason that that happened last night. That's why he’ll get the first opportunity versus New Orleans.”