San Francisco 49ers make thoughts on Trey Lance crystal clear

The 49ers survived and thrived after so many killer injuries to its quarterbacks last year. Now, what do you do with a healing Brock Purdy and a healthy Trey Lance?

Purdy, the last pick of last year’s NFL Draft, ended the season as the starter. And the 49ers say he’ll start this season as QB1 so long as his elbow is strong. Then there’s Lance, who San Francisco viewed as the future when the 49ers selected him with the third pick of the 2021 Draft. He’s good to go. But is Purdy’s job status set in stone or is the quarterback spot truly open?

“Really proud of Trey,” 49ers General Manager John Lynch told Sirius/XM radio. “Trey came back off a broken and dislocated ankle. And he’s out there, has had a really, really quality offseason. So we still remain very high on Trey. We wanted to bring in some more competition. We brought in Sam (Darnold), and Sam’s really taken to the coaching and the structure that we can give him.”

Trey Lance sat atop the depth chart when the 49ers kicked off the 2022 season. But he dislocated his ankle in the second game of the season. Jimmy Garoppolo replaced Lance, but he, too, suffered a foot injury weeks later and was lost for the year. Then Purdy replaced Garoppolo. The transition was so seamless that the rookie quarterback led the 49ers to the NFC title game.

When San Francisco began Phase 3 of OTAs, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold, a one-time first rounder who played for the Jets and Panthers, were the main quarterbacks. Purdy, after undergoing elbow surgery in March, started throwing last week. The hope is that he’ll be ready by the season opener, but he appears ahead of the recovery schedule.

Trey Lance worked with private QB coach early this offseason

Meanwhile, Trey Lance is fully recovered from two ankle surgeries. And earlier this offseason, he spent time in Dallas working with private coach Jimmy Christensen. The QB coach worked on Lance’s mechanics. A broken finger from his rookie season changed his throwing motion, so that had to be fixed. Plus, Christensen used video of another client, Patrick Mahomes, to inspire Lance.

“It’s been an awesome offseason for me just being able to spend time finally getting back to football,” Trey Lance told reporters last week.

“Nothing’s changed for me,” he said. “As far as the stuff with Brock, that’s the same thing I told you guys last year at the end of the year. My opportunity is just to come in and compete and that’s all I wanted. I don’t want to take anything away from Brock, and no one should be able to take anything away from Brock. … I just want an opportunity to compete.”

And again, Lynch stressed that the 49ers are “extremely high on Trey. The great thing for Trey and for (new quarterback) Sam Darnold, that we brought in, is with Brock off to the sideline—Brock had his first session throwing the other day, and everything’s tracking great—but those guys have got the work in the offseason, and they’re both relishing that opportunity.