Kaep is obviously the franchise guy but he doesn't have a ton of experience and leaves himself open to big hits. Tolzien has been around for 2 years and has yet to take a snap in the regular season. Getting a youngish backup QB with 21 starts under his belt brings some experience to the QB meeting room.

Although McCoy was thoroughly mediocre in his time with the Browns he wasn't a complete mess. Seems like he could be a guy who could protect the ball and wouldn't lose bad games if he had to step in for Kaep for a game or two.

Also, McCoy's situation kind of reminds of Alex Smith. He was a successful college QB who ran the spread option offense, then got drafted by a organization that was kind of lost at sea and was almost immediately asked to lead a West Coast style offense with hardly any talent around him. He's also a better athlete then most give him credit for and could at least run a lot of the same sets as Kaep even though wouldn't be nearly the same type of big-play threat. Of course some generic similarities doesn't mean Harbaugh can get anything out of him, but for the price I think it's worth a try.

Getting an experienced back-up for basically a 7th rounder and $1.5M isn't really an exciting move but it's solid.