The San Francisco 49ers have held yet another dilemma at the quarterback position, as incumbent starter Brock Purdy is currently on the mend from a torn UCL sustained during the NFC Championship Game, while reserve signal-callers Trey Lance and Sam Darnold are duking it out in a competition for the backup role.
Reports have indicated that Purdy could be ready to return Week 1 should he remain on his current timeline. Still, there is a possibility that the 2022 seventh-round pick will not be ready for the beginning of the regular season, meaning Lance or Darnold could take over as the signal-caller in the short term.
How will the quarterback situation unfold? Well, ESPN's Adam Schefter has some thoughts on the depth chart for the 49ers at the position.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, Schefter dug back to the NFL Draft, where he detailed that Lance, who was subject to trade rumors at the time, wasn't moved because of a lack of suitors, as well as the 49ers' unwillingness to let him loose.
"There really was never a lot of interest in Trey Lance," Schefter said after being asked about other teams potentially pursuing the quarterback. "For what they gave up and what they get back, which is not very much at all, it doesn't make sense to trade him. There was no trade market, and Kyle Shanahan has said that they didn't have any trade talks with teams. He's not going anywhere right now. He's there."
In addition, Schefter shared his belief that there's a good connection between the 49ers and Darnold, whom he guesses has a chance to "shine and excel" throughout the rest of the offseason, pitting Lance at the bottom of the depth chart.
"Now, I will say this: Sam Darnold signed with the 49ers on the first day of free agency. And if there's a player signing with the team on the first day, that tells you that the team really liked that guy. And they really did like Sam Darnold. He was looking at a couple of different options. He chose the 49ers.
"But let's also be very clear that Brock Purdy, if he's healthy, he's the guy on opening day. He's the starting quarterback. He's the number one. If he's not, if for some reason he can't go, we'll see how Darnold and Trey Lance do in camp this summer. My guess would be Darnold has a chance to really shine and excel. But there's a lot of preseason football left for those two guys to distinguish themselves.""
Is Trey Lance pitted to be QB3 on the depth chart for the 49ers? Not so fast.
Currently, as mentioned above, the 49ers' quarterback situation is still a wildcard, due to the questions around Brock Purdy and his recovery, while there hasn't been any indication thus far of San Francisco favoring Darnold, be it from the players, from coach, or via the performances thus far on the field.
Instead, there's been some chatter about Lance, who reportedly looks much better than last season according to tight end George Kittle.
I'm not gonna lie to you guys," Kittle shared following an OTA session. "I think Trey looks significantly better than he did last year. I really do. His confidence is there. He's throwing really good passes."
Kittle wasn't the only 49ers star to give his opinion, as defensive tackle Arik Armstead had a similar sentiment during an on-air appearance earlier this offseason.
"I've seen a young guy come in and really start to mature. You got to remember that Trey is still really extremely young and didn't have much experience, and the more experience you stack, the better you are," Armstead shared. "I think that he's had a tremendous OTAs and looked very well. You know, I'm really excited for him and his career, and so I think the sky is the limit for Trey and I think he's an extreme talent that just needed to stack up those reps."
Now, it hasn't been all pretty for Lance during the offseason, as he reportedly had his share of ups-and-downs during OTAs and minicamp while entrenched in a competition with Darnold, but the notion out of the building doesn't indicate that the former first-round selection is likely to be the No. 3 quarterback for the 49ers this season, especially when considering that head coach Kyle Shanahan is likely to make the final decision.