Well, it happened again.
For the fifth time in Blaine Gabbert's five-year NFL career, the quarterback has a new offensive coordinator.
After three different men held the job during his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Gabbert spent his first season with the San Francisco 49ers playing under Greg Roman. Now with Jim Tomsula's staff taking the reins, Gabbert's newest coordinator is Geep Chryst.
"I would say it definitely keeps you on your toes," Gabbert said of the constant upheaval. "You're always at a certain point in time behind the eight ball."
Although Chryst technically is new for Gabbert, this coaching change is notably different than the four previous ones. That's because Chryst served as San Francisco's quarterbacks coach in 2014, meaning Gabbert isn't really starting from scratch this time around.
"Having the familiarity at least, it's been refreshing," Gabbert said. "Geep is wonderful coach. He really knows how to relate to all the players, but especially the quarterbacks because he's been with us before. It's been a great transition."
For what it's worth, former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith had six different offensive coordinators in his first six NFL seasons.
Earlier this offseason, Gabbert re-signed in San Francisco on a two-year deal. His reasoning for staying with the 49ers, a team with an established frontline starter in Colin Kaepernick, was due in part to the amount of turbulence he's dealt with since entering the league in 2011 as the 10th overall pick.
"Really, I wanted to chase some consistency. That's big to me because I've never really had that before," Gabbert said. "Having some familiarity in this offense with the concepts and terminology, it's been a big difference. Before, I was always trying to learn and catch up to guys who'd been in the same offense for four or five years."
Gabbert saw action in one regular season game last year, completing 3-of-7 passes for 38 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter of a 42-17 loss to the Denver Broncos. The 25-year-old said he's still growing as a quarterback, and he hopes to be a valuable asset for the team even if he doesn't see the field in 2015.
"There's always something to learn. There's always something to fix. There's always something to get better at," Gabbert said. "Whatever I can bring to the quarterback room, that's what I'm going to do. I'm always here to be a soundboard for Kap. Whatever I see on the sideline, I'm going to try to help him out because we talk about everything."
As for his relationship with new quarterbacks coach Steve Logan, Gabbert complimented Logan's football knowledge, which spans five decades.
"This offense is so multi-dimensional, so it's been great to have another voice in the room who has been a head coach, who's been a coordinator and who has coached quarterbacks," Gabbert said. "He really trusts us to play ball. When we go into the meeting room, he always asks us what we see. Then we just talk and diagnose the plays."
