The 49ers quarterback depth chart is set according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, and Trey Lance is at the back end of it.
Pelissero on Wednesday in an interview with Mark Willard and Dan Dibley on 95.7 the Game in San Francisco laid out how the 49ers view their depth chart, which illustrates why Lance is on the trading block despite his offseason progress.
“I think it’s also that they’ve seen enough now through the course of camp that they know that they’re gonna keep Sam (Darnold) and Brandon (Allen) on the roster in addition to Brock (Purdy), so Trey’s sort of the odd man out here.”
Allen has played in only one preseason game and got minimal 11-on-11 snaps between joint practices with the Raiders before the preseason opener and Wednesday’s session where Lance was absent.
Pelissero said he expects Allen to be on the 53-man roster when initial rosters are finalized at 1:00pm Pacific Time on Aug. 29.
However, while it appears Allen is a frontrunner ahead of Lance for a roster spot, it’s not out of the question that Lance is still on the roster by the start of the regular season.
“It’s within the realm of possibility, sure,” Pelissero said. “Sam Darnold’s on a one-year contract. Brock Purdy still hasn’t seen any regular season game action coming off of the elbow. And Trey Lance is still a young player that has a lot of things that they like about him. So, I don’t see them flipping him for a conditional seventh in 2025. It’s gotta be a real offer that makes sense for them so they can get value, and Trey gets the opportunity to go someplace else. If they don’t get that? Maybe you hold onto him.”
Holding on to Lance may get complicated though and force the 49ers to do some roster gymnastics.
“Maybe you do carry four quarterbacks, or you do the release and re-sign to the practice squad with Brandon Allen down the stretch,” Pelissero said. “I think that Brandon Allen’s gonna be on the 53 come next Tuesday, but there’s different things you can do now with the new practice squad rules. Maybe you hold (Lance) into the season. I don’t think by any stretch we’re saying that next Tuesday’s a hard cutoff here. The red light is on to the rest of the league saying ‘we got a situation here. A guy that you had really high up your draft boards a few years ago is now available, do you want him? So let’s see your best offers and go from there.'”
Unfortunately for the 49ers there may not be any best offers. All indications are they tried to move Lance over the offseason and didn’t have any takers. Now since word of their exploration into the trade market was reported there have been no additional reports about interested teams.
Keeping four QBs may be tough for San Francisco, but it may be what they’re forced to do if they don’t want to risk losing Allen.
