49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan offered a little bit of a different view on the team’s quarterback situation than general manager John Lynch did at the NFL owners’ meetings.
Lynch called Brock Purdy the ‘leader in the clubhouse,’ and while Shanahan didn’t necessarily refute that, he sounded more open to the possibility of Trey Lance scaring Purdy’s ‘clubhouse lead.’
“We believe Trey can be that,” Shanahan said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “I think he would’ve done it last year if he stayed healthy. The good thing for him is with Brock being hurt, he has an opportunity to try to regain that.”
While Lynch certainly has a voice in the room, the call on who starts for the 49ers will ultimately comes down to Shanahan. The spotlight was always going to be on Lance during the offseason, but what exactly he has to prove in practices and preseason games will come down to what Shanahan believes.
Sam Darnold will also be in the mix to push for the starting job, and while he and Lance will battle it out in practice, the QB1 spot may come down to health.
“It’s why we brought in Sam, because we can’t be set for sure on Brock because you never know how the injury will go,” Shanahan said. “We think it will go well. We’re optimistic about it, but right now that’s our hope.
There’s a chance whoever wins the job out of camp could get multiple starts before Purdy is ready to play in live games. That’s where the real ground could be gained, because if it takes Purdy three or four weeks to return and the 49ers are 3-0 or 4-0 in that stretch, the conversation becomes very different.
San Francisco is in a fascinating place QB-wise going into the offseason, and it doesn’t sound like we’ll have any firm answers until the regular season begins. Buckle up!
