Just As John Lynch Implies Brock Purdy Has Hall Of Fame Intangibles, Dan Orlovsky Says Trey Lance Can't Hack It In The 49ers Offense
Yeah...kind of have to agree with Dan Orlovsky here. Last year I thought Trey Lance was about to show why he was the third overall pick in the draft. He was armed with a loaded San Francisco 49ers team. The starting job was handed to him over would-be exile Jimmy Garoppolo. With a camp as "the guy" under his belt and first-team reps, perhaps he could finally grow into his role as franchise quarterback. Not that I was in love with Lance as a player. Just wildly intrigued because there's pretty much no precedent for the situation he's in given how little experience he has playing actual football.
Only none of that came to pass. A game and a quarter or so later, Lance got hurt. Jimmy G stuck around and went down again. Enter: Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy. The rest is apparent history.
Those who like to box score scout will see Lance's 10-for-15 passing line with 112 yards, one TD and zero INTs from Sunday's preseason loss to the Raiders and wonder why Orlovsky or anyone would have such an opinion. However, the TD Lance threw should've been picked. A crazy ricochet scenario led to an improbable touchdown.
Lance's o-line didn't do him many favors, yet for a guy who's supposed to be a true dual threat, he wasn't exactly showing elite elusiveness against backup defenders. Not like Maxx Crosby was out there chasing him down. As a quarterback, you can't really hesitate like Lance often did in the 49ers' well-defined, quick-read passing attack. Injuries have played a part to be sure, but in Year 3, Lance still looks like a major project.
Buried at the bottom of an excellent feature on Purdy by Albert Breer of The MMQB is the following passage about Purdy. Quite a striking contrast to all the buzz around Lance at the moment:
Well damn. Just the other day Kyle Shanahan was gassing Jimmy up as the franchise's best QB since Steve Young — probably true, however outlandish that seems on the surface — and now Lynch is implying Purdy will be quite a bit better.
Sam Darnold is a better fit skill set-wise to run Shanahan's system the way he'll run it with Purdy. This leaves Lance in a precarious position. There's a very real possibility he'll enter the 2023 campaign as the 49ers' QB3. Not much incentive for San Francisco to trade him, especially with how injured its QB room was last year, ultimately costing them an optimal chance at a trip to the Super Bowl.
I've thought for a while that Lance might be destined to land with his hometown team, the Minnesota Vikings. They could have him on standby as a loose contingency plan for Kirk Cousins, who'll enter free agency in 2024. However, Captain Kirk has won me over so hard from that Netflix Quarterback series that I find it hard to believe they'd move off him for such an unproven commodity like Lance. Obviously he hasn't gotten the most ringing endorsement from the 49ers organization.
As for Purdy, what a journey! Sounded like the poor guy's arm was going to fall off after that injury in the NFC Championship Game. Tommy John surgery was on the table at one point. Nope. No problems here. He's back and ready to roll.
Here's more from Breer's story on the behidn-the-scenes discourse the 49ers front office and coaching staff had when Purdy was coming out of Iowa State:
The Niners liked what they saw on that tape. Purdy had an advocate in then area scout Steve Slowik (he’s now a pro scout for the Niners) and quarterbacks coach Brian Griese. More than the player, though, they liked the person they were evaluating—even before they knew how honest he was with himself about who he was and who he needed to be.
“[Slowik] went in there, and for two years he got a lot of it talking to [ISU coach] Matt Campbell,” GM John Lynch says. “Matt Campbell would say, ‘This guy changed our program.’ Everyone wants to know how Iowa State did it. Campbell, first of all, he’s a trusted source. When he tells you something, it’s proven true on his players, and he was just over the moon on him. And then Griese started Zooming him. [Assistant QBs coach Klay] Kubiak, too. We got really convicted.”
With three sixth-round picks in the 2022 draft, the Niners passed over Purdy every single time. They thought about signing him as a UDFA until Lynch couldn't help but remember how convinced Slowik and Greise were of Purdy's potential. Boom. Last pick of the draft.
Shanahan added that they gave Purdy a fourth-round grade. Once Purdy reported to rookie camp, his lower-body build and velocity on his throws far exceeded the 49ers head coach's expectations. That's when it started to occur to Shanahan that San Francisco might've found the ultimate draft diamond in the rough.
The 49ers sacrificed premium assets to get Lance and so clearly should've selected Justin Fields instead. However, it doesn't really matter if Purdy winds up being the long-term answer under center. Kind of evens out in the end, doesn't it? They've nailed so many other parts of building their roster. Just happened to find arguably the most important piece in the least likely of places. The intention was there with Lance!
Whatever reservations the 49ers once had about Purdy as a prospect have long since been allayed. Lynch and Shanahan know the type of team they have. The NFL's best roster, to be precise — even if Purdy clips along at about 85% as good as he was as a rookie.
Looking like some dark, uncertain days ahead for Trey Lance. The possible solution to his issues is simply more live game reps. Those'll be hard to come by in the Bay Area.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok
Speaking of the 49ers, I'm riding Christian McCaffrey's OVER rushing yards for the second straight year, and anticipate a huge bounce-back season from Deebo Samuel. Check out my rationale for their season-long props below.