Brock Purdy’s scheduled absence from Sunday’s practice allowed the 49ers to dish out first-team reps to other quarterbacks.
In two sessions that he’s been on the field, Purdy has taken all the first-team snaps. Sunday saw Trey Lance work with the first team on 12 of their 16 reps. Sam Darnold got the other four. The reverse was true for the second-team snaps per charting posted by ESPN’s Nick Wagoner.
Brandon Allen was only with the third team.
This would indicate Lance is perhaps slightly ahead of any QB battle, but head coach Kyle Shanahan indicated the team intends to split the reps between that pair throughout camp.
The competition for the backup QB job won’t really get in full swing until the team begins practicing in pads, but it’s clear based on reports from camp that while Lance got the first-team reps, Darnold has performed well.
Assuming neither player falls off precipitously — the 49ers’ QB battle should be fun to track throughout the preseason.