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Adrian Martinez in action during an NFL Preseason game between the Jets and Giants on August 16, 2025.

On Wednesday August 27, 2025, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch announced the team is signing quarterback Adrian Martinez to their practice squad.

With only two other healthy quarterbacks, Brock Purdy and Mac Jones, Martinez will essentially serve as the third-string quarterback for San Francisco.

Martinez was just placed on waivers by the New York Jets on Tuesday August 26, 2025. He had a decent preseason in New York, completing 30-of-51 passes for 352 yards with 1 touchdown and two interceptions.

But, he was still behind Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor and Brady Cook on the depth chart. As the QB3 in San Francisco, he has a more plausible shot to contribute to the 49ers in a meaningful way this season.

Martinez Has A Fascinating Career Path 

Adrian Martinez first burst onto the football scene in 49er territory. He starred as the starting quarterback for Clovis West High School in Fresno, California.

He was a superstar as a junior, racking up 39 total touchdowns and winning the Fresno Bee Football Player of the Year award. But unfortunately, he had to miss his senior season of football due to a torn labrum he suffered while playing in a playoff basketball game for Clovis West.

Martinez was still a highly-touted four star recruit in the class of 2018. He had offers from schools like Alabama, Tennessee and UC Berkeley. He ultimately settled on the University of Nebraska as the school he would take his talents.

Martinez started as a true freshman for Scott Frost in 2018, becoming the first true freshman in Nebraska history to start for the Huskers.

But Martinez never developed into the superstar dual threat prospect everyone hoped he would become. Though, that was as much because of the disaster that Scott Frost’s tenure at Nebraska was as it was because of Martinez himself.

In four years at Nebraska and 1 at Kansas State, he threw for 9,752 yards with 51 passing touchdowns and 31 interceptions.

He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Detroit Lions in 2023, but didn’t make the team.

So, Martinez spent 2024 with the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL. And finally, Martinez was a star again.

Martinez was third in the UFL in passing with 1,749 yards. But he also remarkably led the league in rushing with 528 yards. In total, he had 18 touchdowns (15 passing, 3 rushing). He even led the Stallions to the 2024 UFL championship.

That earned him his opportunity with the Jets, and now to be QB3 on the 49ers.

Another UFL Star On the Practice Squad  

Martinez is not the only UFL star turned 49ers practice squad member.

Wide receiver Malik Turner spent the 2025 UFL season with the Michigan Panthers. Turner had a big championship game moment for Michigan, racking up 168 yards and hauling in three touchdowns.

The Panthers ultimately lost to the DC Defenders, though.

Martinez and Turner’s journeys from the UFL to the NFL now intersect. They will have to rely on each other if they want to play well enough to be elevated to the 49ers’ active roster this season.

49ers fans, are you excited to have Adrian Martinez as the third string QB?

Ethan Inman is a sports journalist covering the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and Las Vegas Raiders for heavy.com. He also co-hosts a college football podcast for The Voice of College Football, and writes about the NBA and MLB. He has previously covered the USC Trojans, the NHL, college baseball, and the intersection of sports and popular culture for other publications. He is based in the greater Los Angeles area. More about Ethan Inman

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