The 49ers, once again, have a truly bizarre quarterback situation on their hands.
San Francisco made Sam Darnold their No. 2 quarterback, meaning he’ll back up Brock Purdy to begin the season. That leaves 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance as the third string, and he could be on his way out before his Niners career ever takes off.
The whole Lance situation has been weird from the jump, with widespread belief that the organization has always been split on his potential as their quarterback of the future. They seemed content to try running Jimmy Garoppolo out of town last year so they could start Lance, but then they needed him after Lance got hurt. It was only when Garoppolo got hurt that Purdy had the opportunity to supplant everyone as QB1.
Giving up on a quarterback that they traded up to get at No. 3 after a grand total of four NFL starts would be a stunning move, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility at this point. Niners legend Steve Young told “The Zach Gelb Show” that staying in San Francisco might ultimately be in Lance’s best interest.
“I feel bad for Trey, I think that he honestly lost the competition," Young said. "If I was Trey, if I wasn’t positive that I was – there’s maybe a handful, 10 good places for quarterbacks in the league that I would want to go to. If you’re not going to go to one of the places that can take care of their quarterback and teach them and prepare them to be great, I might hang around – even though I’m only getting scout team stuff, because this is one of the 10 where if you play quarterback it’s where you want to be.
“And you don’t know how it’s going to go down. A year of it, maybe you put up with it. I don’t know, but if they were going to send him to some team that doesn’t take care of their quarterback, I don’t know if I would want that for Trey.”
The way Purdy rose to prominence is a good reminder as to why it could be mutually beneficial for the 49ers to keep Lance. Purdy is coming off elbow surgery, and Darnold has yet to prove he’s an effective starter. You don’t have to squint that hard to see a path to playing time for Lance.
“You never know, right, but Trey needs to get on the field,” Young said. “He’s ready to get on the field and do more of what he did in the last preseason game. There are going to be mistakes, there’s going to be some haywire stuff. But in the big picture, it seems like he gets warmed up and gets going, then he can compete with the big boys, with the big comebacks and the late, fourth-quarter touchdown passes.
“So to me, I want to see more of Trey. I didn’t leave preseason saying I don’t know that I want to see more. I want to see more of Trey, and I want him to play in a place where he can go find the full measure of himself. I don’t know that third string is the place of him, but I do know that if he goes to a place that doesn’t take care of their quarterback, it’s not going to get him to where he wants to be”
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