49ers Fans Support Sam Darnold over Trey Lance in QB2 Battle After Loss to Raiders

The San Francisco 49ers got absolutely smashed by the Las Vegas Raiders in preseason action on Sunday, losing 34-7.

It wasn’t pretty, but it did provide some insight into the quarterback battle currently raging between Trey Lance and Sam Darnold, likely for the backup job behind Brock Purdy.

The stat line for Lance didn’t look bad: He finished 10-of-15 for 115 yards and a touchdown. But dig deeper and it wasn’t so great: He took four sacks and had two passes that absolutely should have been interceptions dropped by defenders instead, including on his bizarre touchdown throw.

If there was any chance of Lance somehow surpassing Purdy on the depth chart, Sunday will have probably extinguished it. Lance wasn’t horrible, but it’s clear he’s an unfinished product.

That was the general vibe from NFL Twitter as well:

The bigger question at this point is whether he’ll even earn the backup gig over Darnold. Of the two players, Lance will have more trade value on the open market given his age and the potential that made him the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft.

But Darnold, who played the third quarter and finished 5-of-8 for 84 yards, may also be making a case for himself this summer as the steadier backup option.

He turned a few heads with this dime:

For San Francisco, it isn’t the worst problem to have. It just feels increasingly likely that Lance is eventually going to get traded. There will be some team out there that wants to give his talent a chance.

The upside for the Niners is that Darnold has looked like more than a solid backup plan if Purdy gets hurt again.

While Lance vs. Darnold was the focus, Raiders’ rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell outplayed both of them, finishing 15-of-18 for 141 yards, a touchdown and one sack taken.

Brian Hoyer is expected to be Jimmy Garoppolo’s backup this season, but O’Connell is certainly making a good impression.