The San Francisco 49ers are entering the 2023 NFL season with one of the biggest quarterbacks conundrums in the league. Brock Purdy, Trey Lance, and Sam Darnold are all competent starters, but only one of them can start for the Niners. Purdy seems to have the inside track to land the starting job, but if you ask former San Fran legend Steve Young, he believes that Lance needs a shot to play to prove what he can do.

After being taken with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Lance has only thrown 102 passes over his first two seasons, thanks in large part to a severe ankle injury he suffered in Week 2 of the 2022 season. Lance then watched Purdy excel as the team's starter, making his status very murky entering this upcoming season. Steve Young believes that Trey Lance has the talent to succeed, and wants everyone to stop creating false narratives around him based on his extremely small sample size in the NFL.

“Anyone who says, ‘Trey can’t’, off what? What data? ‘Oh, one game. One play back at North Dakota State.’ Like, come one man. Stop. You don’t know. And I don’t think he knows. But he needs an opportunity to go prove it. I don’t know if he’s going to get it.” – Steve Young, Inside The 49ers

Chances are Lance will see the field one way or another at some point in 2023, giving him an opportunity to prove that he can be a starting caliber quarterback in the NFL. Young certainly appears to believe he needs a shot to play, and it will be interesting to see what role Lance fills with the 49ers during their training camp action.