San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan spoke to the media on Tuesday to address personnel changes to the team's quarterback position.
Shanahan confirmed that Trey Lance will continue as the team's starting quarterback and also gave some clarity as to who will be the backup.
Jimmy Garoppolo opted to remain with San Francisco on a restructured one-year deal and will be second on the depth chart followed by rookie Brock Purdy, per Lynch and Shanahan.
Here's what Shanahan had to say about the team's quarterback situation:
Shanahan on his communication with Garoppolo throughout training camp:
"We talked regularly because he was up here, he wasn't in meetings or practice, but I remember the first week of training camp me saying to Jimmy like, 'Hey, if you don't like any of these opportunities, if you don't go to the place you want, you can't get the contract that you want, we would love to have you here as a backup. I want you to know that we feel that way, but I also think there's no way you're not going to get something as this goes throughout training camp.' And Jimmy agreed with that. And so we waited throughout all of training camp and then as I think as he saw the other situations out there and I think, to me, it seems like everyone was just waiting for us to cut him before that so they could see how much they could get him for. But once the last Saturday preseason game happened and no one got injured, then Jimmy thought this was his best situation that he liked. And that's why we were so pumped, because it's obviously a better situation for the Niners. We love getting Jimmy back... when it was all said and done, even though it was pretty shocking to us, we thought it was a win-win for both sides."
Shanahan on who will start at quarterback:
"Trey is our starting quarterback. That's why Jimmy wasn't an option unless he came in as a backup role... This doesn't change anything and I just feel it makes us a much better team and doesn't hurt our cap, like it would've."
Shanahan on Garoppolo and Lance's relationship:
"Trey and Jimmy have a great relationship. Trey actually likes having Jimmy in the building and Trey was very grateful to how Jimmy was to him last year. And we feel very strongly that Jimmy will give that back to Trey this year. He'll do for Trey, what Jimmy did for him in the year before."
Shanahan on Garoppolo's readiness:
"Jimmy's been here, he's been rehabbing and he's in great shape. He's ready to go. Of course, you would love for your backup quarterback to get reps in training camp, but that was not an option at the time at all. This wasn't an option until I think Jimmy saw all the other situations and once that final preseason game ended. I'm glad that what he thought was the best option for him was a great option for us."
Shanahan on quarterbacks getting reps during training camp:
"We wanted to give Trey a ton of reps. And then we wanted to find out about Nate (Sudfeld) and Brock (Purdy) also... I'm very glad that we got all those other guys the reps that really helped those guys. It helped us learn a lot about those guys too. And now we've got a guy coming in here that we know a lot about. He knows a lot about us. Our team knows a lot about him and I think that makes us very excited. It makes our team excited."
Shanahan on the team's quarterback depth:
"We feel very strongly giving the keys to Trey, we felt that at the end of last year. We were really excited in what we thought that could do for our team as a whole and we're excited about everything he's done and all these opportunities he's gotten throughout this offseason. And I can't wait to get him started on our team in Week 1. Having Jimmy there as a backup makes us feel really good, because we have a starting quarterback as a backup. The rest of the league had a chance to get him and I just feel so fortunate that he's still here in that case. And in no way does that hurt our team. It's only helped our team."
Shanahan on Purdy earning a spot on the 53-man roster:
"Credit to Brock, how good Brock played in this preseason. I thought he was going to be on our practice squad, because we were real happy with Nate, but Brock won that job and we were going to go into the year with him as the number two. And we were good with that, because that's what he earned. But then for Jimmy to be available and to know that we could have Jimmy with that experience and what he's done in the past come in as a number two. I don't think we've gone through a year yet here where the quarterback has played in every single game. Maybe in '19. Yeah, '19 was the only year. So whoever that backup is, is a huge deal and we were excited to go with Brock, but to have a veteran come through like Jimmy, who has proven himself in this league, how good of a quarterback he is. I can't think of a better situation."
Shanahan on Garoppolo at backup quarterback:
"Competition always pushes people. I don't think Trey needs much pushing. This wasn't anything like, 'Hey, our team has to get this or we have to do this for Trey.' This was, 'Oh my God, Jimmy Garoppolo is available as a backup quarterback for us.' That makes sense for him and it makes sense for us. What else is there to think about? So I don't really put it into any other situation, except we never believed this ever possibly could have happened. There are 32 starting quarterbacks in this league and we believe we have two of them now and that's really rare to have him in this situation. And that's why we didn't have him in meetings. That's why we didn't put him out at practice. Because we nor Jimmy or really probably anyone else in the league believed that was how the outcome was going to be, but it ended up being that way and we feel fortunate that it did."
Shanahan on the morale of the quarterback room:
"When you have a quarterback room where people do like each other, it makes it more fun to come to work, because you are in that room a lot together. And I know those dudes do like each other. They've got some different skill sets, so they both can learn stuff from each other just by watching each other. And the more football, the more they are around each other and the more they talk, usually that rubs off, both ways."
