49ers Naming Sam Darnold No. 2 QB Ahead Of Trey Lance

According to Tom Pelissero, the 49ers are going with Sam Darnold as the primary backup quarterback behind starter Brock Purdy, leaving Trey Lance as the No. 3 quarterback. 

Pelissero adds the team is exploring its options with Lance and his future in San Francisco is unclear at the moment. 

Although the 49ers gave up a trove of picks to get Lance with the No. 3 pick in 2021, he has barely played due to a combination of injuries and inexperience. 

At this point the 49ers are a contending team and evidently feel Darnold’s experience makes him better suited for the primary backup job should he need to play. 

Going into the third year of his career, Lance remains an unknown, and that could make him more interesting to another team searching for a long-term solution at quarterback than to the 49ers. 

Lance, 23, was a one-year starter at North Dakota State. He was a unanimous All-American sophomore but was limited to appearing in just one game in 2020 due to NDSU’s schedule.

The 49ers traded up to select Lance with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Lance signed a four-year, $34,105,276 contract with the 49ers that includes a $22,163,837 signing bonus. 

San Francisco will have a fifth-year option to pick up on him in 2024.  

In 2021, Lance appeared in six games for the 49ers and completed 57.7 percent of his passes for 603 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed for 168 yards and a touchdown.

Darnold, 26, is a former first-round pick of the Jets back in 2018. He was in the final year of a four-year, $30.370 million rookie contract when he was traded to the Panthers. 

Carolina exercised Darnold’s fifth-year option for 2022 after acquiring him from New York. He made a base salary of $18.858 million in 2022 under the option. 

Darnold was an unrestricted free agent for the first time this offseason when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with the 49ers. 

In 2022, Darnold appeared in six games for the Panthers and completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 1,143 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions to go along with 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

We’ll have more on Lance as the news is available.