San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said Monday that Brock Purdy is on track to probably be the team's starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2023 season.
On Tuesday, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed the topic and somewhat contradicted his boss' words.
One day after John Lynch's comments, Shanahan had this to say about the 49ers' QB1 job:
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) March 28, 2023
"With Brock being hurt, [Lance] has a chance to regain that." https://t.co/RHrqYkA359
In fairness to Lynch and Shanahan, the regular season is still over five months away and the NFL Draft hasn't even happened yet. The situation seems like it will remain fluid and will depend largely on how Purdy recovers from his offseason elbow surgery.
While still possible, it's unlikely that San Francisco would add a quarterback in the early rounds of April's draft, despite seeing longtime signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo sign with the Las Vegas Raiders recently. The Niners replaced "Jimmy G." with Sam Darnold earlier this month, signing the former No. 3 overall pick to a one-year deal to be the team's third quarterback.
As Purdy rehabs from his surgery, Trey Lance is on the mend as well, after suffering a broken ankle early in the 2022 regular season. Lance is expected to be good to go for training camp.
Kyle Shanahan reiterates that there's a broad range of possible outcomes for Brock Purdy's return timeline and they can't start to crystallize until that 12-week mark. The general window for return that the 49ers are expecting is Weeks 1-4
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 28, 2023
Kyle Shanahan said that he expects Trey Lance and Sam Darnold to both take first-team reps this offseason while Brock Purdy is out
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 28, 2023
Good summary quote from Kyle Shanahan on the 49ers' wide-open, anyone's-guess QB situation — thanks largely to Brock Purdy injury uncertainty and the untapped potential SF sees in both Trey Lance and Sam Darnold: pic.twitter.com/ngmsYlKZSx
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 28, 2023
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