After much speculation and rumors, the San Francisco 49ers and its coaching staff know what they want to do at the quarterback position moving forward.
The 49ers have named second-year quarterback Brock Purdy their starter under center for Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is an expected outcome after what he was able to accomplish last season as a rookie.
The real question was which quarterback on the 49ers roster was going to be named Purdy’s backup in San Francisco, with Trey Lance and Sam Darnold battling it out to earn the job as the second man on the depth chart.
It appears that Darnold did enough to earn the job, as Kyle Shanahan and company named him the backup.
This means the 49ers are open to trading Lance, with the Minnesota Vikings potentially being a viable option, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
As the #49ers weigh options for Trey Lance, calling his hometown team, the #Vikings (who were a rumored destination before the Draft) makes sense. Nothing is impossible, but MIN has a backup in Nick Mullens and drafted rookie QB in Jaren Hall. Post-draft, these deals are harder.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 23, 2023
As of right now, Kirk Cousins is the starter for the Vikings, and that likely won’t change unless he really struggles this season or the team decides to make a change if Minnesota can’t live up to expectations during the 2023 campaign.
Even though the starting job is taken, Lance would be an interesting addition as potentially being Cousins’ successor down the road, with Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall likely not being the long-term answer.
Obviously, things aren’t going as planned for the 49ers with the team not getting a lot of interest in Lance’s services, but that can quickly change due to injuries or if a team shows a willingness to roll the dice on the former first-round pick.
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