Simms: Purdy has ‘clear advantage' over Lance for 49ers QB job

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The 49ers are preparing for yet another quarterback competition, this time between Brock Purdy and Trey Lance. 

With veteran Jimmy Garoppolo almost certainly out of the picture, San Francisco likely will decide between one of the two young quarterbacks ahead of the 2023 NFL season. 

The problem is, neither of them currently is healthy. Lance suffered a broken ankle in Week 2, and after two surgeries, should be cleared for football activities in the coming weeks.

Purdy, on the other hand, suffered a torn UCL in the 49ers' NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and likely will be sidelined six months with a chance to return at the beginning of training camp.

NBC Sports' NFL analyst Chris Simms joined NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco and Jennifer Lee Chan on "49ers Talk" from Super Bowl LVII's Media Row in Phoenix, where he was asked about the upcoming battle between Lance and Purdy and why he believes the former seventh-round pick has the advantage over the former No. 3 overall pick. 

"Brock, he can take advantage of an offensive system like [49ers coach Kyle] Shanahan has," Simms said. "That's the great thing about him. That's why I was going, 'Why not draft Mac Jones?' back in the [day]. Because Kyle's going to teach him all up ... and Purdy is very capable of processing that, let alone he's a very consistent thrower of the football. He's not a 'wow' thrower, he's not going to make game-changing throws, but if it's there to be had, he's going to hit it.

"And that's to me where he has a clear advantage over Trey Lance. Trey Lance, great athlete, but the throwing needs work, the decision-making needs work, seeing the field from the pocket needs major work and I don't think that's going to happen overnight for OTAs."

After Garoppolo took over for an injured Lance in Week 2, the 49ers' offense needed time to adjust to a different style of quarterback. Looking ahead to the battle between Lance and Purdy, how will Shanahan alter his system to prepare for the two quarterbacks? 

"You can do it. Again, there's going to be a different skillset there as far as what you'd build around," Simms explained. "I would think some of that quarterback design run stuff, it might be in the OTAs with Brock Purdy a little bit, but they know they aren't going to do that with him. I don't think it's as big a deal as people make it out to be sometimes.

"It's a handful of plays where the offense is like, 'OK Trey is in here, we're going to do a little more quarterback-designed runs, play-action passes' and the players are usually capable of pulling it off."

Simms believes that not only is Lance at a disadvantage but there's a chance that the 22-year-old isn't even on the roster next season. 

"I guess I just wonder about his future overall ... I guess there's a part of me where it's like I don't expect him to be the starter of course and then I do wonder if he'll even be on the team as the offseason goes," Simms added. 

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Regardless of which quarterback wins the job, Simms believes that keeping both on the roster could distract the team. If the 49ers were to trade Lance, they wouldn't get anything close to the three-first-round-pick price tag they paid to move up and select him two years ago. 

"I think all possibilities are on the table right now. I wouldn't be shocked, I wouldn't," Simms said. "I'm a believer in you've got to frame your team around one guy and just go with it. If Brock Purdy's that guy and they feel he's going to be healthy enough early in the offseason then I wouldn't be shocked with that. You're going to always have this conversation hovering over you whether you have Trey Lance or Brock Purdy, it's going to be a detriment to your organization. I think that can be a pain in the butt to deal with.

"Probably nothing special, no. You're not going to get that right now, he's a project. He still has work to do in that department, we knew that when they drafted him ... it would probably be a mid-round pick, something along those lines."

The quarterback competition has not yet begun, and until both players are healthy, nobody, even the 49ers, knows which one will start under center in Week 1 next season. 

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