Ian Rapoport, filling in this week for Pat McAfee on the Pat McAfee Show, shared an interesting San Francisco 49ers tidbit. In March, the NFL Media insider stated he believes that veteran free agent acquisition Sam Darnold will "more likely than not" be the starting quarterback heading into Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Rapoport received some pushback on that statement—from the 49ers.
"I got a lot of pushback from people there (inside the 49ers building) who were like ... 'Why would you discount Trey Lance?'" Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee Show. "And I'm like, 'I get it, but Trey Lance is not ... we have not seen ... whatever Trey Lance is going to be, we have not seen.'"
The 49ers reached out to Ian Rapaport about his Darnold hype and for discounting Trey Lance. All of you freaking out about Darnold need to relax. As I've been saying. The 49ers believe in Trey Lance. At least enough to want to see what he can do. Now is their best opportunity. pic.twitter.com/O0yTsqmeyn
— Ryan G Hensley (@ryanghensley) May 8, 2023
The 49ers have openly declared that second-year quarterback Brock Purdy would be the frontrunner to be QB1 if he were healthy.
"I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he's probably the leader in the clubhouse at that," general manager John Lynch said in March. "I'll let [head coach] Kyle [Shanahan] make those kind of decisions, but I know, when we talk, I think Brock's probably earned that right to be the guy. If we were to line up, he'd probably take that first snap."
It would take an impressive performance from another quarterback to unseat Purdy, who, during the 2022 season, guided the 49ers to eight consecutive wins before suffering a UCL tear in his right arm during the NFC Championship Game.
That leaves Lance and Darnold to compete this offseason to be the Week 1 starter should the rehabbing Purdy not be cleared in time for the start of the regular season. While the 49ers are preparing to start their 2023 campaign without Purdy, Shanahan and company remain hopeful that their young quarterback might be healthy by Week 1.
"It might be Week 1. I think I'm hearing, at the latest, Week 4. But that's just all estimations, and we'll see what happens," Shanahan said in March, just weeks after Purdy underwent surgery.
The 49ers will have a clearer picture of Purdy's recovery timeline when the quarterback begins throwing again next month.
If it does end up being Darnold, the former New York Jets and Carolina Panthers quarterback will be playing with the most talented supporting cast of his career.
"Sam has as good of a skill set as there is," Shanahan said. "That's why he went as the third pick in the draft. When you study his play, you can see it too. I don't think he's always been in the best situations, which is tough for quarterbacks."