Who would have thought that the absolute last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft would become the No. 1 quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers? With Brock Purdy slated to start under center in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL regular season for the team, it is safe to say that the quarterback situation in Santa Clara has been quite an adventure over the past several years. Even Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan would be the first to admit that.

“We waited 10 weeks. Made a trade for a quarterback (Jimmy Garoppolo). He played five games and then we made him the highest-paid quarterback of all time, at the time,” Shanahan said, via David Lombardi of The Athletic.

Garoppolo turned over the keys to the offense to Trey Lance, but the plan just did not work out the way the 49ers envisioned it, with Lance suffering an injury and Garoppolo getting his gig back in 2022. Shanahan acknowledged all that — and more.

“Then he played two of the next five years and did really good in those two years. His injuries for three of those five years were legit. It was rough on him, rough on us. Then we made a move to go to a younger quarterback (Trey Lance). We thought he would be ready in two years and he wasn’t. And now we have a different younger quarterback. So, that’s the situation.”

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Obviously, Shanahan and the 49ers are hoping that the QB saga for San Francisco stops with Purdy, who has Sam Darnold as his chief backup in the coming 2023 NFL season. Garoppolo and Lance are no longer part of the Niners, with the former now with the Las Vegas Raider and the latter having just been traded to the Dallas Cowboys.

Is Brock Purdy the real long-term answer under center for the 49ers?

That is certainly the hope for San Francisco. Purdy broke out in 2022 in the most unpredictable of ways. Before he got the shot at starting for the 49ers, he saw Lance and Garoppolo go down with injuries. As a third-string rookie signal-caller, Purdy managed to keep the 49ers afloat and even stitch together an incredible win streak that stretched until the playoffs.

The 2023 NFL season will be a test for Purdy, but the 49ers believe in the quarterback, whom they signed to what has seemingly become a bargain four-year, $3.73 million deal in 2022.