Last season, it became very clear that even though he was once an afterthought, Brock Purdy gave the San Francisco 49ers the best chance to win. That became more and more true with each passing week, as the former seventh-rounder led the 49ers to the NFC Championship game in his rookie season.
With that said, San Francisco will still hold an open quarterback competition between Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold in training camp, with general manager John Lynch confirming as such on Monday. Though, Lynch revealed that one quarterback may have a leg up above the competition.
“I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he’s probably the leader in the clubhouse at that…if we were to line up, he’d probably take that first snap,” Lynch said at the annual owners’ meetings in Phoneix on Monday via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
#49ers GM John Lynch with biggest endorsement of QB Brock Purdy as starter yet: "I think Brock has earned the right with the way he played that he’s probably the leader in the clubhouse at that…if we were to line up, he’d probably take that first snap."
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) March 27, 2023
Lynch’s surprising endorsement of Purdy comes after the 23-year-old Iowa State product suffered a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in San Francisco’s NFC championship game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Purdy recently underwent surgery on his injured elbow, and all things considered, Lynch said on Monday that the 49ers expect him to start throwing 12 weeks after the initial operation.
“Our hope is he’s ready to go for training camp,” Lynch said via David Lombardi of The Athletic.
John Lynch and the 49ers still expect Brock Purdy to resume throwing 12 weeks after his surgery.
"Our hope is he's ready to go for training camp."
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) March 27, 2023
Obviously, Purdy will need to prove himself worthy of earning the starting quarterback position in training camp, but it certainly is a big deal that Lynch has endorsed him as the “leader in the clubhouse” at this point.
[Nick Wagoner, David Lombardi]
