When Brock Purdy emerged as a legit NFL starting quarterback last season, it helped the 49ers in multiple ways.
Not only did he lead the team to the NFC Championship, but he also softened the blow of missing on the Trey Lance pick with the No. 3 overall selection in 2021. The 49ers have a quarterback on a cheap rookie deal now, as Purdy is set to make just $889,000 – an absolute bargain for the final pick of the 2022 draft.
Even though it might have worked out for the Niners in the end, ESPN’s Louis Riddick thinks San Francisco’s leadership should be called out for their mismanagement of Lance, who was beat out by Sam Darnold for the team’s QB2 job to begin the season.
“That same guy is now your third quarterback?” Riddick said of Lance. “And now has lost his job to Mr. Irrelevant? He lost his job to another former first-round pick that has supplanted him as the No. 2 quarterback. As we talked about in the offseason, someone told me, ‘Don’t be surprised if Sam Darnold flourishes in this offense.’ That’s a huge mismanagement.”
The 49ers originally held the No. 12 pick in the draft in 2021 but used three first-round picks and a third-rounder to move up to No. 3. Ultimately, Lance was the pick, and he clearly hasn’t panned out the first two seasons.
“Remember before the ‘21 draft when there was a lot of speculation about who it was exactly that Kyle Shanahan was moving up from (pick No.) 12 to (pick No.) 3 to get?” Riddick said. “Remember all the talk about it being Mac Jones, then it switching to Trey Lance and then there was a lot of speculation about internally, a disagreement about who the people wanted? Who exactly wanted who – what did the coaches want versus who did the scouting department want?
“This right now is something that’s going to be dissected internally in San Francisco. Because you can not do that. I don’t care what Brock Purdy has returned to you, you can’t do that and not have some people have to answer for that.”
While other first-round quarterbacks from that draft like Trevor Lawrence (34 starts), Zach Wilson (22 starts), Mac Jones (31 starts) and Justin Fields (25 starts) have each got experience and in some cases established themselves as franchise quarterbacks, two injuries and a season behind Jimmy Garoppolo has limited Lance to just eight games and four starts.
You also have to consider the draft picks the 49ers used to get Lance, as those selections ended up being Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, Patriots starting guard Cole Strange, little-used Dolphins linebacker Channing Tindal and rookie Saints defensive tackle Bryan Breese.
The 49ers have enough talent on the roster to make up for those lost picks, but it’s hard not to say Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch fumbled the Lance pick and his subsequent handling.
