Due to injuries at the quarterback position, Christian McCaffrey was under center in the second half of last season’s NFC Championship Game. While that was largely out of his control, the San Francisco 49ers running back doesn’t want it to happen again.
While it was Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson who went down in the 31-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the 49ers were in that situation because starter Trey Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury in just his fourth career start. Fair or not, this upcoming season is a make-or-break one for Lance, who was the third overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
And Lance will have every opportunity to win the starting job, as he competes with Sam Darnold in OTAs. While Purdy may have the inside track, he’s still recovering from offseason elbow surgery. That gives Lance a unique opportunity and he’s already made a strong impression, including on McCaffrey, who has yet to play with the third-year quarterback out of North Dakota State.
“I didn’t get to play with Trey last year, but from what I’ve seen so far, Trey has been great,” McCaffrey said during a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, via 49ers Web Zone. “He’s been awesome. And obviously, I’ve played with Sam, and I know what Sam can do, and seeing all the things that he’s been doing this OTAs, too. I think, for us, it’s nice knowing that we have three great options.
“And like I said, I don’t know who the quarterback is going to be. And frankly, my job is just to be as ready to go as I can for whoever it is. But I just know that we’re in good hands no matter what. And I pray to God I don’t have to play quarterback again.”
Ultimately, it remains to be seen who Kyle Shanahan names as the team’s Week 1 starter at quarterback. However, with OTAs underway, McCaffrey got his first chance to see what the North Dakota State product can do and he’s pretty impressed so far.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.