Tag: John Lynch

Aug 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance (5) signals during the third quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

GM says Trey Lance ‘most likely’ to stay with 49ers

Posted on | by Field Level Media

General manager John Lynch said third-string quarterback Trey Lance likely will remain with the San Francisco 49ers.

“The most likely option is that he’s here,” Lynch told KNBR on Thursday, per the San Jose Mercury News.

Lynch denied the team has been trying to trade the former No. 3 overall pick all offseason but said he wouldn’t turn a blind eye to a deal that could benefit all parties.

San Francisco announced Wednesday that Sam Darnold, another former No. 3 pick, had earned the backup role behind Brock Purdy entering the 2023 season.

Lance, 23, was not at the portion of Wednesday’s practice that was open to the public. However, Lynch confirmed Thursday that Lance was at 49ers headquarters and preparing to play as QB3 in Friday night’s final preseason game against the visiting Los Angeles Chargers.

Lance entered the 2022 season as the 49ers’ starting quarterback before fracturing his right ankle in the second game of the season. The injury, which included ligament damage, required two surgeries — the second to remove hardware from the first that was causing irritation in the ankle.

He is set to count $9.3 million against the salary cap this season. The team moved from No. 12 in a trade with the Miami Dolphins to select Lance third in the 2021 draft. That transaction cost the 49ers first-round picks in 2021, ’22 and ’23 in addition to a third-rounder in ’22.

Lance has appeared in just eight games (four starts) over his first two seasons, completing 56 of 102 passes for 797 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions.

–Field Level Media

Jan 29, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles during the first quarter in the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

49ers GM: Brock Purdy has edge at QB

Posted on | by Field Level Media

San Francisco has three quarterbacks — Brock Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold — on its roster, but 49ers general manager John Lynch said one has a slight edge over the others in the race to be the 2023 starter.

“I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he’s probably the leader in the clubhouse at that,” Lynch said Monday at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix. “If we were to line up, he’d probably take that first snap.”

Purdy had surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm earlier this month.

Purdy, 23, made a stunning rise from being the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to leading the 49ers into the NFC Championship Game.

After quarterbacks Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo were injured in the regular season, Purdy took over and led the team to wins in each of the final five games. Purdy and the 49ers then defeated the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs before falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC title game when the elbow injury occurred.

After fourth-stringer Josh Johnson went down with a concussion against Philadelphia, Purdy returned to action but was unable to throw the ball more than a few yards.

In the regular season, Purdy completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 1,374 yards with 13 scoring passes and four interceptions. In the playoffs, he had a 65.1 percent completion rate while throwing for 569 yards and three TDs with no interceptions.

Garoppolo signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency. Lance, who entered the 2022 season as the starter, sustained a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.

–Field Level Media

Nov 29, 2020; Inglewood, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches from the sidelines during the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. The 49ers defeated the Rams 23-20. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

49ers to take QB at No. 3, defer on Jimmy Garoppolo’s future

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The San Francisco 49ers plan to select a quarterback with the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed Monday.

Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, speaking at their pre-draft press conference, each alluded to the fact that they had the quarterback position in mind when they made a trade with the Miami Dolphins to move up from No. 12 overall to No. 3.

“What I’m proud of with what we’ve done is we could have sat there at 12 and waited to see which one came to us, and I think whichever one did, if one did … I think that could have looked really good,” Shanahan said.

“But we made a decision in this process that we felt we needed to get a starting quarterback this year and add that to our team. And when we sit there at 12 way back in the day, we wanted to dictate it. We also were worried: Maybe the one we end up wanting doesn’t fall to 12.”

After San Francisco traded the No. 12 pick, its next two first-rounders and a 2022 third-rounder to Miami to move up to No. 3, NFL Network reported that the 49ers told quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo he was “still in (their) plans.” But Garoppolo’s future with the team is now in doubt following Shanahan’s comments about drafting a “starting” quarterback, and he could be an attractive trade target for another team.

Shanahan effectively dodged the question when asked if he was certain if Garoppolo would be on the 49ers’ roster by the end of the week.

“I can’t guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can’t guarantee who will be on our roster on Sunday. So that goes for all of us,” he said.

Since arriving in San Francisco via trade from the New England Patriots in 2017, Garoppolo has started 30 games; the 49ers went 22-8 in those starts. He quarterbacked the team to Super Bowl LIV, a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. But multiple injuries caused him to miss most of the 2018 and 2020 seasons.

Shanahan said he feels good about five different quarterback prospects for the third pick. Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and BYU’s Zach Wilson are widely expected to go with the first two picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets, respectively. San Francisco then would have its pick among the next three options: Justin Fields of Ohio State, Mac Jones of Alabama and Trey Lance of North Dakota State.

ESPN’s Todd McShay reported Monday that Shanahan wants to select Jones, but others in the front office are pushing for Lance.

Lynch said he “will always defer to” Shanahan on the topic of quarterbacks. Shanahan is the 49ers’ offensive play-caller and has a track record as an offensive coordinator in Houston, Washington, Cleveland and Atlanta.

But the decision at No. 3 will be made jointly by Lynch and Shanahan, Lynch added.

–Field Level Media