Kyle Shanahan has opened up on Trey Lance’s future with the San Francisco 49ers after the return of Brock Purdy.
Purdy suffered an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury in his right elbow during the NFC Championship game in January. The 49ers went on to lose 31-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles in a one-sided beat-down, ending their hopes of reaching the Super Bowl.
Now that Purdy has had surgery and is gradually building up his recovery, Shanahan has opened up on where the 49ers stand with his fitness. Purdy and the rest of his team-mates aren't expected to report back for training camp for another two months when the off-season finishes, but Shanahan says he has high hopes for 'Mr Irrelevant'.
"As long as Brock’s elbow heals right, he’ll be the exact same guy,” Shanahan told David Lombardi of The Athletic. “He’s doing the same drills all the other quarterbacks are doing, he’s just using a towel to throw. But still doing violent motions, still moving, he’s just not doing it with a football. As long as there’s not a setback, we think he’ll be there at training camp."
Shanahan added: “When he can jump in there at full speed, because he got the experience (watching it), I think he’s going to be a hell of a lot better.”
Should Purdy be back from his elbow injury in time for the start of training at the end of the summer, it’s likely that he will return to being the starting QB for the 49ers. However, Shanahan still has high hopes for Lance, who was a number three pick overall for the 49ers in the 2021 draft.
"We did expect Trey Lance (to be the man for a long time) and I think that he still can be,” said Shanahan. “You also don’t expect the last pick in the draft to come in and play at that level."
"He broke that finger and it didn’t heal right. Trey spent a whole year throwing without a bent finger, which changes everything, which shows the toughness of the kid — he never complained about it, he just tried to adjust so he could be out there. He spent a whole offseason just trying to rehab his grip so he could throw normal."
Shanahan added: "I believe Trey would’ve gotten to a level where he would’ve done similar stuff. He missed that opp and Brock came in and did. I truly think Trey can go in and do that, but Brock’s already done it and that’s a very good thing for us to have. We know we have a quarterback who’s done it at a high level in the NFL who we can win with. I also believe we have 2 more on our roster. Strongly. But one guy has shown it. So let’s see how it plays out."
