Originally posted by krizay:
Sorry for jumping in here and this has very little to do with your back and forth but you posted something that I've been thinking about the ast few days.
If Purdy is healthy and is indeed QB1 I can see a path where SD is QB2 based off of style and experience(but more style). We seen Kyle have to change his play calling for Trey. If Kyle still feels he needs to, there is a legit possibility where Trey would be the emergency QB and SD is QB2. Then if something does happen to Brock then the game plan wouldn't have to change.
Obviously, this is just me throwing this out there.
You're touching on a key point that was made by some of us before they went out and signed a vet to compete on day 1 of free agency. A guy who needs playing time to develop isn't just a risky, at best, option to start for a Super Bowl ready team, but it's a risky option to expect to be able to step in and play well in a spot start, or potentially a handful of starts at the beginning of the season if your starter isn't healthy. If you are operating under the idea that Trey needs real playing time to get better and show what his actual potential is, as the vast majority of people believe, then it's completely consistent to subscribe to the idea a guy like this isn't an ideal player to step in and be successful without having that playing time under his belt.
This brings us to one of the major disagreements in these arguments, which is how well Trey has actually played and whether he plays well enough the team can consistently win with him at QB. The very limited evidence does not indicate that. The team is 1-3 in games in which he's played at least a half. The offense has been a dysfunctional, inefficient, mess in all these games outside of arguably a quarter at home against one of the worst teams in football. All 3 of the losses were against inferior teams with the possible exception for the Arizona game. However in that game, the defense played very well and a measly 18 points would have been good for the win. Trey individually struggled in all of these games. He played below what would be expected of an average NFL starting QB. What else would be expected of a raw prospect?
If you had to choose a better QB to develop long term between Darnold and Lance, I think the vast majority of people would choose Lance. That's not what we're doing. Purdy is now the long term plan A. We're looking for a reliable QB2, who could see playing time as our starter is dealing with major injury. Is Sam Darnold a guaranteed answer at QB2? He isn't. He's another cheap, talented, option to give us a possible alternative if Lance hasn't improved without the playing time everyone thinks he needs. Nobody thinks Sam Darnold is a great player, or even a good player, but to say Lance has played better than him in his limited time is not really supportable. I think most people outside of a group of 49ers fans and some media personalities would rank Darnold ahead of Lance based on what we've seen. If you took a generic team without a QB and had to win a game tomorrow, Darnold would probably be the choice of the two for most people. The only question is how much has Lance improved, if at all, going into this coming season.
People keep referencing the slow starts we've had the last two years as if the primary reasons for the slow starts weren't issues with the offense and the QB position. We're doing the best we can to insure that doesn't happen again.
21: Start 2-1 after losing a heartbreaker to the eventual #1 seed. Jimmy gets injured at home against the Hawks, Lance comes in at halftime in a 7-7 game and the game gets away from us. Lose the following week at Arizona with Lance as starter. Bring Jimmy back following the bye week and lose another game with a poor offensive performance, which was a theme in all three of these losses.
22: Start Lance and go 0-1 after an abysmal offensive performance in the monsoon game against a horrible team. Lose week 3 in another abysmal offensive performance lead by Jimmy G, an average at best player who we banished from all meaningful offseason work. End up losing two more games, one where you were missing 8 of 11 defensive starters, and another against the best team in the NFL.
We increase our margin of error simply by managing the most important position better than we have the last two seasons.
[ Edited by SmokeyJoe on Jun 27, 2023 at 4:30 PM ]
