The 49ers will head into the start of the offseason program next month with Trey Lance and Sam Darnold as their healthy quarterbacks.
But Brock Purdy‘s recovery from elbow surgery will loom over the proceedings.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan reiterated on Tuesday what G.M. John Lynch said on Monday — that Purdy is the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to San Francisco’s quarterbacks. But it’s also unclear when Purdy will be ready to practice, let alone play.
“He won’t be able to do anything on the field for who knows? It could go anywhere from six months to eight months [of full recovery time],” Shanahan said at the annual league meeting. “So, it’s all open like that. I think we’ll have a better idea they say three months out of surgery, they have a better idea of whether it’s going to be six months or eight months. So, I don’t know. It’s how it heals.
“So, we’ll see in three months if he’ll be ready for camp. If not, we’ll possibly say hey, it’s going to be a little slower, Week One. I’m hearing at the latest Week Four. It’s all estimations and we’ll see what happens.”
Shanahan noted that the uncertainty with Purdy’s recovery is part of why the club went out and got Sam Darnold.
“There’s still a chance [Purdy’s elbow] won’t heal right — I think that’s an outside chance, we feel pretty good about it,” Shanahan said. “But that’s also why we had to make sure Sam came in and we could have at least two quarterbacks — excluding Brock — that we felt could lead our team. And we do have that and feel pretty good Brock’s going to come back.”
The 49ers are likely to draft or sign another quarterback before training camp, though that player is going to have a real outside shot at making the 53-man roster.
“I’m sure we’ll get another quarterback in our building, especially with Brock probably not being able to go at the start of training camp — I’m just guessing. So I’m sure we’ll get a guy, at least a free agent,” Shanahan said. “But you never know how that draft goes, you never know how our evaluation goes.”