San Francisco 49ers Reveal Surprising Decision At Quarterback

San Francisco 49ers QB Trey Lance

Getty Image / Thearon W Henderson


Last year’s NFL offseason was filled with questions at the quarterback position for the San Francisco 49ers.

Despite the fact that they made it abundantly clear that they wanted Trey Lance to be their starter during the 2022 season, there were many who wondered whether Lance was ready for that role and if the 49ers might end up turning back to Jimmy Garoppolo to remain competitive.

Things appear to be much more clear this offseason.

Earlier today, the 49ers appeared to commit to Brock Purdy as their starting quarterback for the 2023 season, but they also made another interesting revelation about their quarterback hierarchy.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that Lance and Sam Darnold will be splitting the first-team reps during the offseason while Purdy recovers from elbow surgery.

Not giving Lance the bulk of the 1st-team reps seems like an odd choice for the 49ers.

They are just 2 years removed from making a massive investment in Lance when they traded up to pick 3 to draft him, but he hasn’t had a ton of opportunities to play with the top unit since then.

As a rookie, Lance was stuck behind Garoppolo on the depth chart. Then he lost nearly all of his 2nd season to an injury.

You would think they would want Lance to get as many reps as possible to potentially pay off their investment if Purdy ends up not being able to follow up on a strong first season.

Instead, it looks like they’re going to give half of those opportunities to Darnold, who wasn’t brought in to play with the first team.

In spite of all of that, the San Francisco 49ers have decided to make a move that makes it seem like the former 3rd overall pick might not even have the backup job locked up 2 years into his career.