Vernon Davis casts his vote for 49ers starting quarterback in 2023

49ers legend Vernon Davis chatted it up with FanSided and shared who he thought should be the Niners’ starting quarterback in 2023.

The San Francisco 49ers have a good problem: too many starting-caliber quarterbacks.

This, even if the Niners lose veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to free agency this offseason, which is expected to be the case. In his wake, head coach Kyle Shanahan and Co. can still call upon the original starter for 2022, Trey Lance, and the shocking upstart, Brock Purdy.

Most feel as if the starting job is Purdy’s to lose despite him suffering an elbow injury in the NFC Championship game that’ll keep him out of action for at least six months.

Lance, who broke his ankle way back in Week 2, is poised to return in time for offseason workouts that Purdy will ultimately miss.

“He’s going to prove a lot of people wrong.” – Vernon Davis on Trey Lance

That said, Purdy played exceptionally well en route to helping San Francisco get as far as it did in the playoffs.

But one notable former 49ers player isn’t entirely sold on Purdy being the guy, automatically.

Vernon Davis says Trey Lance should start for 49ers and ‘will prove a lot of people wrong’

Lance sat in Garoppolo’s shadow for almost all of 2021, and then the former’s ankle injury derailed what could have been a promising first year as a full-time starter.

Sitting in with Niner Noise’s parent company, FanSided, on the Stacking the Box Podcast, former Niners tight end Vernon Davis chatted it up about the quarterback situation out in San Francisco.

Rather than jump on the Purdy bandwagon, Davis is rolling with Lance as the 49ers’ starter in 2023:

“[They] need to really establish who that starting quarterback is going to be,” Davis said when asked what the Niners must do next season. “They had a lot of ups and downs this past season. But, I’m thinking with Trey Lance coming back this next season, he should be up for the starting job and I think he’s going to prove a lot of people wrong.”

Read More: Why Brock Purdy won’t force 49ers to trade Trey Lance

Davis, who saw plenty of quarterbacking competitions during his time with San Francisco, sounds like he wants to see that role solidified instead of going through a back-and-forth situation not unlike what existed with Lance and Garoppolo early in 2021.

A good point, perhaps.

Yet Davis might have rubbed some 49ers fans the wrong way by also adding that he felt the Niners would have lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game regardless of Purdy’s in-game injury.

San Francisco fans may have to forgive Davis for that particular take.