It is not a well-kept secret that the San Francisco 49ers are interested in Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins. Kyle Shanahan worked with Cousins when the two were together in Washington, and Shanahan has had nothing but praise for the quarterback. However, Washington placed the exclusive franchise tag on Cousins, and now it is a matter of trying to figure out if a trade can work.

If a trade does not work out, Matt Barrows is reporting the 49ers are interested in Mike Glennon. Barrows lays out some interesting issues that relate to the 49ers and Kirk Cousins. The team does not have a quarterback on the roster, and if they want to pursue Alshon Jeffery, Pierre Garcon, or really any skill position players, they will likely need to have a quarterback in place. It might only be a bridge quarterback, but a quarterback is kind of necessary.

The 49ers could decide Glennon is the bridge, or they might decide on Brian Hoyer or Matt Schaub, or who knows who else. However, there is one complication with Glennon. According to the NFLPA website, Glennon does not have an agent (as first reported by PFT). The NFLPA tracks players and agents, and when a player is switching agents, he is removed from the database. That happened with Colin Kaepernick last week while he was switching agents. He is now back in the database. A player has to wait five days to hire a new agent, per NFLPA rules, and that is likely what is happening with Glennon.

Glennon could have an agent lined up in the next day or two, but if he does not have an agent on Tuesday, he cannot take part in the free agency tampering period. One of the rules of the tampering period is that only agents can speak to teams. If a player does not have representation for whatever reason (choosing to represent himself or in the process of changing agents), he cannot speak with a team until either he gets an agent, or the new league year starts, whichever comes first.

If Glennon does not have an agent before Thursday, the 49ers and other teams cannot speak to him. Once the league year starts, he would then be able to speak to teams even without an agent. That creates some difficulty in getting a deal done for when free agency starts.

Let’s use a hypothetical. Say the 49ers backup plan after Cousins is Glennon, and they also want to sign Alshon Jeffery. If Glennon continues to not have an agent, the 49ers could not speak to him. Jeffery has an agent, and so the 49ers could speak with that representation during the tampering period.

Jeffery will be speaking with several teams, and could get offers fairly quickly. If the 49ers can’t work out a deal with Glennon, is Jeffery going to be jazzed about doing a deal? Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch could very well sell him on “the future,” so this is not a situation of mission impossible. But it creates a potential headache due to a rule that most people don’t even think about for the most part.