Kyle Shanahan made it official Wednesday afternoon: Sam Darnold will be the 49ers' backup quarterback to begin the 2023 NFL season.
NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco confirmed an earlier report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero that San Francisco has named Darnold the backup to starter Brock Purdy to begin the season and that former No. 3 pick Trey Lance's future with the organization is "unclear."
Shanahan joined KNBR 680's "Tolbert & Copes" for an exclusive interview Wednesday, where he confirmed the report and explained why the 49ers will have Darnold ahead of Lance on the depth chart.
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"This isn't a thing where we're giving up on Trey. This is more how Brock played in his seven games and that was decided before the season started," Shanahan explained. "And then how good Sam has looked, they've both looked good, but we do have to make a decision here and you only get so many reps at it. We feel, starting about 10 days ago, Sam really separated himself and we've got to keep it real in that way."
Lance was not in attendance at 49ers practice after news broke of the team's decision to name Darnold the backup. Speculation began to swirl regarding San Francisco possibly fielding trade offers for Lance, who Shanahan hopes remains with the team throughout the season.
"If we can have Trey as an option here, I would feel extremely happy about that and I think the other quarterbacks in our room would and I think our team would," Shanahan said. "Trey's a very well-liked guy, one of the better people I've been around and I do think he's going to have a lot of success in this league."
As much as Shanahan and the 49ers might want to keep Lance around, it sounds as if they would be willing to part ways with him, potentially via trade, if the young quarterback wanted a fresh start someplace else.
San Francisco 49ers
"It's been a tough road for him, because the times he has gotten an opportunity, he ended up getting hurt and missed that window, now he's sitting in this position," Shanahan added. "We'll always try and do right for Trey. If there's a better situation that his heart's in or something like that, we're going to make sure not to do something that hurts him in that way.
"So that's stuff that I talked to him about this morning, that's stuff I'll talk to him about tonight and continue to talk to him about, but Trey knows how I feel about him and I hope he ends up being able to be here and that's the best thing for him, but we've got to see what is the best thing from now until then."
The 49ers famously traded three first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, surrendering a massive haul for the opportunity to select Lance as the next franchise quarterback. It hasn't worked out the way Lance nor the team had hoped, and now the North Dakota State product finds himself buried on San Francisco's depth chart.
Whether Lance remains with the team or is traded, Shanahan and the 49ers will look to do what's best for the promising young quarterback.