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Kyle Shanahan was a defeated man by the end of the San Francisco 49ers' season. The coach lost no less than four quarterbacks during the 19 games his team played, not even having a backup quarterback available in the NFC championship game to pretend they had a chance.
With Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo both lost for the season, Brock Purdy was the man to step up. Of course, Purdy suffered a serious injury early in the conference title game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and his backup, Josh Johnson, suffered a concussion and left the game. The 49ers, literally, did not have a quarterback available to throw the ball.
If things weren't easy in 2022, they might be even worse next season. Garoppolo is expected to leave the team as a free agent, while both Lance and Purdy will return from serious injuries and nobody knows how or when they will play.
Not even the fanciest option will be there now. Tom Brady, who many saw as a possible option for the 2023, retired on Wednesday. Simply put, Shanahan will have a lot of trouble giving a win-now roster a functional quarterback to make it work.
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Will he be able to put the 49ers in playoff position again?
Shanahan and the 49ers' quarterback dilemma
Shahanan's offense has a friendly scheme for quarterbacks, but it's not a case of plug-and-play as some might paint. Yes, it does have easy reads, but the amount of pre-snap motion and the need to understand how outside zone plays and read-option works takes away a lot of options.
It's the kind of offense that, if a quarterback plays well, it can look easy. But it's not like that. Whoever starts next year, whether it's Purdy or Lance, needs to get on with it quickly.
This is a win-now roster mode, and both will have a clean bill of health to fight for the starter spot. Lance is the favorite, obviously – the 49ers traded a lot of picks to go up and get him with the No. 3 pick in 2021. But Purdy has proven that he can win in the league, unlike his opponent.
There are a lot of important names in the 49ers' salary cap, and they don't have much of an option to trade for any quarterback as they've traded their picks to acquire Lance and Christian McCaffrey.
Shanahan will have to pick between Purdy and Lance. He's got to do it right.
