What we're learning from 2nd week of 49ers OTA practices
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers are in the middle of Week 2 of organized team activities, and here are the developments of note.
The San Francisco 49ers allow only a portion of their offseason organized team activities to be visible to the media.
And if it wasn't the case already, it's pretty hard to come to any concrete conclusions with just a couple of observed practices being presented to the general public by way of the press.
That said, Week 1 of OTAs taught us a few things, particularly how running back Christian McCaffrey is setting the tone and how second-year EDGE Drake Jackson is in excellent shape. There's also that whole quarterbacking battle between Trey Lance and Sam Darnold, too.
Still, there's the needed disclaimer about how OTAs are little more than glorified warmups. Players don't wear pads and aren't allowed to engage in physical contact. Rare are full-team sessions, and the practices resemble backyard football more than the kind of action fans would see on a Sunday.
Nevertheless, here are some takeaways from the second week that we know about.
49ers Week 2 OTA takeaway No. 1: Sam Darnold, Trey Lance are balancing 1st-team reps
One of the notable takeaways from the first week of OTAs was how Lance was getting work in with the first-team unit, while Darnold was taking snaps with the second-stringers.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan subsequently told reporters that "it’ll even out" between Lance and Darnold, in terms of who's getting first-team reps, and that appeared to be the case on Wednesday.
It was Darnold getting those first-squad looks, and the apparent breakdown of pass attempts and completions was reported by Sports Illustrated's Grant Cohn:
Sam Darnold took most of the 1st string QB reps today and completed 10 of 12 passes with one drop against a defense that was missing all but three starters. Trey Lance took most of the 2nd string QB reps and completed 6 of 12 passes with three drops and one 40 yard completion.
— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) May 31, 2023
With presumed starting quarterback Brock Purdy still on the mend following offseason elbow surgery, Lance and Darnold apparently have an equal chance to claim the QB1 role heading into the regular season, especially if Purdy ends up missing time.
Currently, it doesn't appear as if either Lance or Darnold is wholly separating from the other in that competition.
Speaking of Purdy...