Ahead of the second preseason game, and following a less-than-convincing performance from Trey Lane in the first preseason game, there are questions over the former No. 3 overall pick.
It feels, at this stage, like he could be the team’s third-string quarterback.
Where would that leave the 49ers and Lance? Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports joined Papa and Lund to discuss the situation.
Maiocco said Lance needs to continue working, but that the game experience he needs to turn a corner in his career likely wont’ come with the 49ers.
“He has to just keep his head down and get better and he’s doing that,” Maiocco said. “The unfortunate thing for him is that he may never get a chance with the 49ers. If Brock Purdy continues to play the way that he played at the end of last season when he took over, then not Trey Lance, not Sam Donald, not anybody else, not Kirk Cousins coming in, nobody’s going to be taking Brock Purdy’s job.”
He said the team hasn’t subscribed to the belief that they need to play Lance simply because they invested heavily in him.
Lance simply isn’t anywhere near a sure thing, and Purdy’s much closer to it.
“It’s a really interesting circumstance where the 49ers, this season, do not feel obligated to put him out there just because he was the number three overall pick,” Maiocco said. “That was the situation last year. Now the train’s leaving the station and they cannot afford to spin their wheels a little bit or bring a young quarterback up to speed.
“They need to limit the unknowns as much as possible and right now there are fewer unknowns about Brock Purdy than there are about Trey Lance and they liked what they’ve learned about Brock Purdy beginning from the time that he took over and they saw him in real game action.”
Purdy could play a series or two on Saturday in the second preseason game along with other starters, but if he doesn’t, it will be Sam Darnold playing the entire first half. Lance will play in the second half.
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