As long as Brock Purdy remains in rehab mode for his elbow, the 49ers will have a competition between Trey Lance and Sam Darnold for the starting quarterback job.
The 49ers acquired Lance with the third overall pick of the 2021 draft, so he has spent three years with head coach Kyle Shanahan in the team’s offensive system. Darnold was with the Jets and Panthers before signing with the 49ers this offseason, so he’s had to get a handle on the offense while also trying to show that he can run it well enough to play this fall.
During an interview with Jennifer Lee Chan of NBCSportsBayArea.com at teammate George Kittle’s Tight End University, Darnold gave an update on how that’s going.
“Yeah, it’s been a work in progress,” Darnold said. “I thought I got better throughout camp and just got more comfortable with the system, so still got to study and go through the process of continuing to learn the system. But I’m excited for it, and it’s been really fun so far.”
Word from the 49ers and Purdy has been that he’s on track to be ready for the regular season, so Darnold’s work might be put toward a bid for the No. 2 job when all is said and done.
