Kurtis
Rourke.
Kurtis
Rourke.
Indiana· 6'4"· 220 lb
"Rourke is a nuanced rhythm passer with plus accuracy and full-field processing, whose NFL value hinges entirely on whether he can overcome two ACL tears on the same knee."Pre-draft read
Full-time pocket quarterback who ran a play-action heavy spread at Ohio and then Indiana's tempo attack. He wins with anticipation and placement: compact release, ball out on time to the leverage-beating window, and real feel for layering throws over linebackers and in front of safeties. He reads full-field rather than locking a half, and his eyes move defenders.
Arm strength is functional rather than special — he drives the deep out and the seam, but the ball loses zip late in the down. Mobility is escape-only; he slides and resets inside the pocket. The signature is decision quality under duress: 79 touchdowns to 21 interceptions across 47 games, most of it against pressure he could not run away from.
Timing-and-rhythm play-action offense with a defined progression structure and a run game that keeps him on schedule — Shanahan-tree or a Big Ten-style spread with heavy boot.
Year 1: redshirt developmental QB3 while the knee finishes rehab. Ceiling: a competent long-term QB2 who can start a stretch of games without sinking the offense.
A vertical, hero-ball offense that asks the quarterback to hold the ball, win off-platform and drive the far-hash throw against two-high — that is exactly where his arm and mobility run out.
The scheme has to protect his platform; give him a clean base and a defined read and he is accurate to every level.
Kurtis Rourke | 2024 Highlights
Full 2024 Indiana season reel: rhythm throws, layered intermediate placement and red-zone work.
Ohio Football 2022 - Kurtis Rourke Highlights
MAC Offensive Player of the Year season at Ohio — the cleanest look at his pre-injury base and arm.
49ers seventh-round pick Kurtis Rourke's college highlights
Post-draft cutup framing the traits San Francisco bought at pick 227.
Rourke arrived as a five-year Ohio starter turned one-year Indiana transplant, and his profile is the classic older, polished, low-variance passer: 6-4, 220, plus accuracy, plus processing, average arm, below-average athleticism. He plays the position from the neck up and gets rid of the ball on rhythm, which is why his numbers survived two different offensive systems.
The production is real. He was the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year at Ohio, then delivered a 69.4 percent, 3,042-yard, 29-touchdown, five-interception season for an Indiana team that went from afterthought to playoff contender, finishing ninth in Heisman voting and second-team All-Big Ten. The complicating fact is medical: he tore the right ACL in fall camp before that season, played the whole year on it, and had it repaired in January. It was the second ACL tear on the same knee.
Boards had him as a top-six quarterback in the class before the injury became public and roughly a fourth-round projection after. He tested at neither the Combine nor his pro day. In the seventh round, this is a low-risk swing on a redshirt-year developmental backup: park him a season, see what the knee looks like, and evaluate the passer in 2026.
- 01
Anticipation and timing
throws receivers open on rhythm, releasing before the break rather than waiting to confirm separation, which is how he beat MAC and Big Ten coverage alike.
- 02
Ball placement
excellent touch on layered intermediate throws and back-shoulder work, consistently placing the ball away from the defender's leverage rather than just completing it.
- 03
Full-field processing
works progressions left to right, uses his eyes to move safeties, and rarely locks onto his first read even when the pocket compresses around him.
- 04
Decision-making under pressure
79 touchdowns against 21 interceptions in 47 games, with a 29-to-5 mark in 2024 despite playing the season on a torn ACL.
- 05
Toughness and durability of mind
played through the torn knee and a broken throwing thumb in 2024, missing only a game and a half across a playoff-contending season.
- 01
Arm strength
functional to all levels but not special; velocity fades on the deep dig and the far-hash comeback, and he needs a clean base to reach those throws.
- 02
Athletic ceiling
escape mobility only, no designed-run value, and offenses that need the quarterback to threaten the perimeter get nothing from him.
- 03
Medical file
two ACL tears on the same right knee, with the second repaired in January, and no on-field testing at either the Combine or his pro day.
- 04
Age and runway
a sixth-year college quarterback entering the league at 24 with a rehab season likely, which compresses the development window teams get.
| Yr | Team | G | Cmp | Att | Yds | TD | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Ohio | 3 | 30 | 44 | 386 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | Ohio | 10 | 169 | 259 | 1801 | 11 | 7 |
| 2022 | Ohio | 11 | 244 | 353 | 3257 | 25 | 4 |
| 2023 | Ohio | 11 | 195 | 307 | 2207 | 11 | 5 |
| 2024 | Indiana | 12 | 222 | 320 | 3042 | 29 | 5 |
| Career | — | 48 | 860 | 1283 | 10693 | 79 | 21 |
Sports-Reference CFB, bowl games included. 2019 (one appearance at Ohio, zero pass attempts) is counted in the 48 career games but not listed as a season. Rushing splits were not verifiable season by season and are omitted rather than zero-filled. Career totals reconcile exactly with the sum of the listed seasons plus the 2019 appearance.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Elijah SarrattWR10%
- Tayven JacksonQB7%
- Omar Cooper Jr.WR7%
#1 of 21 tracked contributors · Production leaned on volume · Offense explosiveness 1.24 (p37) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Accurate, quick-processing backup who can hold an offense together for a few starts.
Same rhythm-and-anticipation operating style; the outcome requires an offense that manufactures clean pockets.
Polished college passer whose arm and athletic limits keep him on the practice-squad/QB3 margin.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The 49ers spent the pick and then did the sensible thing with it: Rourke opened his rookie season on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list while the repaired knee caught up. San Francisco opened his 21-day practice window in early December 2025, but he was never activated, and he was ruled out for the year before the window closed. He finished 2025 with zero regular-season games. Coming out of the 2026 offseason he was healthy and throwing again, taking reps at rookie minicamp in May and heading into training camp in a genuine QB3 competition behind Brock Purdy and Mac Jones.
In hindsight the pick still reads as sound seventh-round process rather than a hit or a miss. Teams were not paying for the passer at 227; they were paying for the option on the passer, with a full year of rehab priced in. What has not changed is the underlying question from the evaluation — whether average arm strength and no mobility can survive in the NFL once the anticipation edge that carried him in college gets erased by faster closing speed. The knee had to be answered first. That answer looks fine. The football answer is still outstanding.
Data note: Sports-Reference CFB, bowl games included. 2019 (one appearance at Ohio, zero pass attempts) is counted in the 48 career games but not listed as a season. Rushing splits were not verifiable season by season and are omitted rather than zero-filled. Career totals reconcile exactly with the sum of the listed seasons plus the 2019 appearance.