At 1-12, the 49ers can afford to start experimenting. It could come at quarterback over at some point during the final three games of this miserable season.

Third stringer Christian Ponder has gotten more practice reps with the offense this week, signaling he could be active at some point during the final three games of the season.

From ESPN’s Nick Wagoner:

For the first time this season, third-string quarterback Christian Ponder has been taking repetitions with the offense in practice this week. “I don’t know what the plan is yet, we haven’t really talked about it, but I did get some reps this week,” Ponder said. “I’m excited about that, trying to make the best of it.”

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Ponder has been stuck behind Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert, who have quarterbacked the NFL’s last-ranked passing offense and haven’t offered much in the way of optimism for 2017. Kaepernick is expected to opt out of his contract while Gabbert is a free agent after the season.

Ponder has remained a question mark because he hasn’t played. He’s also scheduled to be a free agent in the spring, which could lead to San Francisco giving him snaps to see if he’s worth bringing back.

Chip Kelly has kept Ponder inactive for all 13 games while he’s acted as the upcoming opponents’ quarterback on the scout team for the bulk of the season.

“It was nice to run the offense, kind of knocking the rust off a little bit in a sense of going through the reads and everything but it was fun, I enjoyed it,” Ponder said. “It is different. When you’re on scout team you try to go through some of the reads, you try to tie in what this play is on the card to your offense, but it’s not always the same. So getting back into the reads and running the game plan in practice is different, but it’s been good.”

Leading up to last week’s loss to the Jets, Kelly said making Ponder the primary backup hadn’t been discussed. Kaepernick was listed on the injury report Thursday was a neck injury, but was still a full participant in practice.

Some have clamored for Ponder while Kelly’s offense has sputtered. Ponder beat out sixth-round pick Jeff Driskel for the third quarterback job in August despite being signed after one preseason game when Thad Lewis was lost for the year with an ACL tear.

Ponder in three exhibition games led San Francisco’s quarterbacks with a 64-percent completion rate and 198 yards passing while mostly working against reserves. He had three rushing touchdowns, with two coming in the come-from-behind win over San Diego in the preseason finale.

It doesn’t appear the 49ers are going to give Ponder a shot in Atlanta this week. But Ponder could get time during the final two weeks of the schedule against the Rams or Seahawks.