Nick Wagoner23 de ago, 2023, 16:56 ETLectura: 5 min.
San Francisco is exploring all options for the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, a source confirmed to ESPN.
SANTA CLARA — The competition for the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback job is over.
The 49ers have selected Sam Darnold at No. 2 behind Brock Purdy, and are exploring all options with Trey Lance, the 49ers third overall pick. 2021 NFL Draftconfirmed a source to ESPN this Wednesday.
Lance was not present at the start of practice Wednesday.
With Sam Darnold occupying the second spot in the order for San Francisco, the future does not look bright for Trey Lance with the Niners.Getty Images
With Purdy handling most of the starter’s duties since his return from a torn ULCL in his right elbow, Darnold and Lance had been vying for the backup role throughout training camp.
On Tuesday, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan indicated he wasn’t ready to announce his second on the roster order until closer to the start of the regular season, even noting that it was possible to alternate between backups depending of the week.
“I would think that I would probably announce it before facing Pittsburghbut not this game,” Shanahan said.
Now, it appears the quarterback roster order has taken shape, with Brock Purdy al tope, Sam Darnold in the backup spot, and a bit of uncertainty after that with Trey Lance and the Veteran Brandon Allen still in template.
The Niners don’t plan to keep more than three quarterbacks on the active roster, which means some of them will have to go at some point. That player could be Lance who, a year ago at this point, was about to start the season as a starter for San Francisco.
He suffered a broken right ankle in Week 2 and missed the rest of the season, opening the door for Purdy’s promotion after leading the club to a 7-1 record as a starter and an appearance in the NFC Championship Game.
NFL Network first reported on the Niners exploring all options with Lance.
49ers general manager John Lynch said before the draft NFL last April that he had received interest from other clubs regarding a potential trade for Lance. At the time, Lynch said that he would need something “substantial” to part ways with Lance.
“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of smoke actually,” Lynch said in April. “It hasn’t been extremely active and it’s not like we’re offering it out there like, ‘Hey, we’re getting offers for Trey‘. That hasn’t been the process… It hasn’t been that substantial.”
But, with Darnold making the move to the backup role, that smoke is probably going to come back. At this point in the preseason, no notable injuries have occurred to quarterbacks on other teams, but each club will have a better idea of the quarterbacks on their rosters.
In case the 49ers trade Trey Lance would count $5,540,956 in dead money over each of the next two seasons, and the team would save $3.76 million in 2023 and $5.31 million in 2024 against the cap.
Should the Niners release Lance, he would count $14.61 million in dead money with no savings against the salary cap.
Another option for the Niners could be to retain Lance as the third in the order. Since Shanahan and Lynch arrived in 2017, the team has had only one quarterback play an entire season healthy: Jimmy Garoppolo in 2019.
Purdy started last season as the third choice, behind Lance and Garoppolo, and the Niners had Josh Johnson as his fourth quarterback for the NFC Championship Game, and with everything and that they were left without options due to injuries. In case the 49ers part with Lance, Allen could occupy that role of third in the order.
After recovering from ankle surgery, Lance spent the offseason working on his mechanics with private quarterbacks coach Jeff Christensen. He came back with a quicker release, but has had his ups and downs in training camp and preseason.
In last week’s exhibition game against the Denver BroncosLance started slow, throwing an interception on a screen pass, but finished strong, connecting on 8 of 10 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown on the final two drives to set up the game-winning field goal from 32 yards courtesy of the rookie. Jake Moody.
On Tuesday, Shanahan noted the improvements he’s seen from Lance.
“This offseason, we’re just healing up again and redefining how he pitches, getting his balance back,” Shanahan said. “I think that Trey from when he got hurt to where he is now, I think it’s helped him.”
The 49ers signed Darnold at the start of free agency in March, in part because they weren’t sure how long Purdy’s recovery would take, and because Lance had started just four games with 102 pass attempts in the season. NFLin addition to coming from a significant injury of his own.
Like Lance, Darnold is also a former third overall pick (2018). Darnold suffered in previous stops with the New York Jets y Carolina Panthersthrowing 55 interceptions in 56 games, with those teams going 21-34 in their starts.
Darnold and Lance have alternated with the backups throughout camp and preseason, but Shanahan has been excited by what he’s seen from Darnold in terms of securing the ball and getting him where he needs to be.
“He’s been really consistent through everything…He didn’t come here the first day taking over everything, because you can’t do it when you don’t have the experience,” he described. Kyle Shanahan. “But, every day I’ve done it, it’s gotten better and better, and he just seems more and more comfortable in everything he does.”
2023-08-23 20:56:00
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