Another NFL offseason has begun.
That indicates that San Francisco will have another offseason of quarterback chaos.
While anticipated 2023 starter Brock Purdy recovers from elbow surgery, the 49ers are in the middle of organized team activities. Trey Lance, a first-round pick in 2021, and Sam Darnold, an offseason addition, are currently splitting reps with the first team.
Lance is now much more resembling a first-round pick than he did previously, says tight end George Kittle.
Kittle stated
“I’m not gonna lie to you guys, I think Trey looks significantly better than he did last year. I really do. His confidence is there. He’s throwing really good passes. …He overthrows people once in a while. Hey, it is what it is; he’s still learning and stuff. But, just watching him, he looks so much more comfortable in the pocket. I really appreciate that from him from all the work that he’s put into it. … He just looks comfortable back there. He just looks like he’s having fun.”
There are a few different schools of thought in this. Lance’s prospects of regaining the starting position that was previously thought to be his — eventually — when he was picked with the No. 3 pick in 2021 are ones that Kittle sincerely believes in. Or else he’s just parroting what the firm says and inflating Lance’s trading value. In either case, Kittle’s extolling of Lance makes logic. There isn’t really a drawback to doing this.
Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, has largely refrained from commenting on the quarterback position, but he has cited Purdy’s performance in 2022 and his progress towards returning from UCL surgery in time for Week 1 of the season.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has mostly remained coy about his thoughts;
“We’re hoping for Week 1, and I feel pretty optimistic about that,” Shanahan said in May. “That’s what we’re hoping for that he’ll be ready to play in Week 1, and usually that doesn’t mean that’s the day he comes back.
“Usually you gotta come before that to make that goal and that’s kinda the goal we’re hoping for, and we don’t have any reason to think differently.”
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