Kurtis Rourke finally got his first NFL action Thursday night, one year after spending his entire rookie season on the non-football injury list recovering from a torn ACL, and showed exactly why the 49ers were excited to draft him in the seventh round before getting hurt again.
The Canadian-born, Ohio University and Indiana-developed quarterback was San Francisco's only healthy quarterback dressed for the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans at Levi's Stadium.
He went 12-of-14 for 100 yards and added 14 yards on three carries before leaving in the second quarter with a rib injury after Patrick Taylor's 1-yard touchdown run. He was questionable to return and did not. Adrian Martinez finished the game.
The 49ers drafted Rourke 227th overall in 2025 with Kyle Shanahan's team having turned late-round quarterbacks into stars before, Brock Purdy, the 262nd overall pick in 2022, is the obvious precedent.
Rourke threw for 3,042 yards with 29 touchdowns and just five interceptions at Indiana in 2024 before the ACL ended his draft season. He spent all of 2025 on the NFI list earning $625,000.
He waited over 400 days to play in an NFL game. He looked good for 14 attempts before the ribs ended the night.