The 2022 season has been strange to say the least for the San Francisco 49ers. This was supposed to be the season where the third overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, Trey Lance, broke out and emerged as the team's long-term starter. Instead, the team suddenly finds their playoff hopes in the hands of their third-string quarterback, Brock Purdy.
It was an interesting road to get to this spot, but it involved both Lance and backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo going down with season-ending injuries. Lance suffered an ankle injury in Week 2, leading Garoppolo to reclaim the starting role he had just lost to Lance. Then Garoppolo suffered a Lisfranc foot injury in Week 13, forcing Purdy into the action.
All Purdy has done since then is lead the 49ers to three straight wins, with San Francisco wrapping up the top seed in the NFC West in the process. Purdy has been a revelation under center for San Fran, so that begs the question; could Trey Lance's future with the 49ers be in danger as a result of Purdy's strong play? Let's take a closer look at this question and see what Lance's future with San Francisco could look like.
Could Trey Lance's future with the 49ers be in danger?
To understand why Lance's future with the 49ers may be in doubt less than two years after they drafted him, it's important to understand what Brock Purdy has done, and just how unlikely it is that he would perform at this level. For reference, Purdy was the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, dubbing him as the “Mr. Irrelevant” as his draft class.
Through his three games of action, Purdy has proven to be anything but irrelevant. He has led the 49ers to victories over the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Seattle Seahawks, which has been wildly impressive. Not only has Purdy managed to come in deep into the season and take complete control of the 49ers, he's also managed to beat three playoff caliber teams in the process.
Purdy's numbers over this three game stretch aren't otherworldly (58/84, 612 YDS, 7 TD, 1 INT) but he's done exactly what's been asked of him. He's relying on the team's top playmakers, such as Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, and making the throws he has to make. Purdy isn't going to light teams up for 400 yards every time he takes the field, but he doesn't have to.
With Brock Purdy excelling, it makes an already murky quarterback situation for San Francisco even murkier. Remember, this is the team that decided to bench Garoppolo in favor of Lance despite the fact that Garoppolo led them all the way to the NFC Championship Game last season. They already had two starting caliber quarterbacks at their disposal, and they may have a third now in Purdy.
Considering how Garoppolo is set for free agency this upcoming offseason, it seems likely that he will be finding a new home, meaning his future outlook with the team isn't nearly as important as Lance's. But Lance was the guy that was supposed to be the quarterback of the future. Would one good stretch from Purdy be all it took for him to be sent packing?
Based on the investment the 49ers made in Lance, and the fact that he's still played a very minimal amount of football in his first two seasons in the league, it seems unlikely that Lance would be completely cast aside by San Francisco. But they can't simply ignore how good Purdy has been early on just because of Lance's pedigree; the best players need to be on the field whenever they can play.
Much of this may also depend on what Purdy is able to accomplish over the remainder of the season. He's already done good work helping the 49ers clinch their division, but this is a team that had expectations of a deep playoff run prior to Garoppolo's injury. If Purdy can continue to perform once the postseason rolls around, this decision could become even harder for San Francisco to make.
Right now, it seems like the only way Brock Purdy would 100 percent take over the 49ers starting job past the 2022 season would be if he led the team to a Super Bowl victory. That's wildly improbable, but considering the supporting cast Purdy has around him, and how good he's looked through three games, it cannot be counted out entirely.
But unless that, or something else very drastic, ends up happening, Lance will have the inside track to reclaiming the starting job next season. This is the guy who was drafted to be the future of the team, whereas Purdy was drafted simply as a flier. Lance's ceiling is higher, but it's clear that Purdy is a good quarterback, which means that Lance's job likely isn't as safe as it once seemed to be, making the 49ers quarterback job a storyline to watch throughout the rest of the season.
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