The 49ers have a handful of things to iron out on their roster in training camp. And while the coaching staff will always say that any starting job is up for grabs, that’s not always true. There are a bunch of positions for San Francisco where the top spot on the depth chart is securely occupied.
Typically it’s black and white – either a starting job is open or it’s not. For the 49ers this offseason, their starting quarterback job falls into a little bit of a gray area.
Pro Football Focus’ very good analyst Trevor Sikkema listed the “battle” between Brock Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold as the top position battle to watch across the NFL once training camps open. Via Sikkema:
Many analysts would have him down as the unquestioned starter if he is fully healthy during camp, but it still shouldn’t be a stone-cold guarantee even if he is healthy. After all, the seventh-round draft pick earned a 79.1 passing grade in his best stretch, which is solid, but he paired just five big-time throws with four turnover-worthy plays.
Lance was the quarterback the Niners traded all those draft picks for back in 2021, but he just hasn’t played much football. He played in a run-heavy offense in high school, where he attempted 20 passes in a game just once. He then got only one year as a starter at North Dakota State in his entire college career. He backed up Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021, then played just two games as a starter in 2022 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. There’s a ton of promise to him, but we have to see it this summer.
As for Darnold, he likely won’t be too much of a threat for the starting job unless Purdy and Lance aren’t healthy enough to go.
None of this is ‘wrong.’ The 49ers do have three quarterbacks, and head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have both lauded the winning capabilities of each player.
However, it isn’t analysts that have Purdy down as the unquestioned starter. It’s Shanahan and Lynch, who have both made it clear that the job is Purdy’s barring either a major leap from Lance or Darnold, or a setback in Purdy’s recovery from offseason elbow surgery.
There will be a battle for the backup QB job between Lance and Darnold. And given the team’s history of injuries at the position the backup QB battle is a vitally important one worth following.
For Purdy’s spot to be in danger though, assuming he’s fully healthy and on track to start in the season opener against the Steelers, it will first require one of Lance or Darnold to really shine. Neither player got that opportunity in OTAs.
Going into camp there isn’t a battle for the QB1 job. That’ll belong to Purdy once he’s good to go. The battle to watch will be the one between Lance and Darnold. If one of those players looks like a superstar in camp or if Purdy has a setback, then we can shift the conversation to a starting QB battle.
