Dan Quinn and Adam Peters have said they might look to have four quarterbacks in the room this summer, and they now have their third, signing veteran Jeff Driskel – a former 49ers draftee of the Peters era there – on Monday.
The team also signed two other offensive players the new staff is familiar with: RB Jeremy McNichols, who has had two stints with the Niners, and WR Olamide Zaccheaus, who played for Dan Quinn in Atlanta.
Driskel, 30, was selected by then-49ers VP of player personnel in the sixth round in 2016. He has played in 24 games and started 12 over eight NFL seasons for Cincinnati, Detroit, Denver, Houston, and Cleveland – he was the Browns’ Week 18 starter last season – and has 2,394 yards, 16 TD and 10 INT in his career.
He joins recently-signed Marcus Mariota and 2023 third-stringer Jake Fromm in DC, and are going to add another QB with the No. 2 pick, although Peters himself knows from the 2022 season that sometimes, even four isn’t enough.
“You want to have the best competition and as many good players as you can to have the best team,” Peters said at the Combine. “In San Francisco a couple years ago, we needed four, maybe five at the end.”
McNichols, 28, was a fifth-round pick of the Bucs in 2017, and the Commanders will be his tenth organization total. He spent 2017 with the Niners – most of the season on the practice squad and the final few weeks active – and last season on San Fran’s practice squad as well.
Over his career, McNichols has played in 37 games (30 of those with the Titans in 2020-21) and has 364 rushing yards, 40 catches for 295 yards, and two total touchdowns.
Zaccheaus, 26, went undrafted out of Virginia in 2019, but hooked on with the Falcons that summer and spent four seasons in Atlanta, the first 1 ½ under Quinn. He played last year with his hometown Eagles, notching 10 receptions for 164 yards and two touchdowns.