49ers HC Kyle Shanahan STARTLINGLY blamed for ‘deliberately’ setting up Trey Lance to fail in order to protect Brock Purdy

49ers insider Grant Cohan shared this hot take after Lance's poor outing in the preseason game.

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan STARTLINGLY blamed for ‘deliberately’ setting up Trey Lance to fail in order to protect Brock Purdy

Trey Lance (L- Getty Images), Kyle Shanahan (M- AP), Brock Purdy (R- USA Today)

The San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan surprisingly started Trey Lance in their first preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Shanahan might have wanted Lance to get some playing time but things didn’t go the way they would’ve liked. Lance looked shaky in his first game since he left the game with injury back in 2022. Amidst this, the 49ers insider Grant Cohn brews a conspiracy theory claiming Shanahan is setting up Lance to fail so that he can start Brock Purdy in week 1 of the 2023 regular season.

“What was Kyle doing? Trying to put Trey in a position to be successful?” said Cohn of Sports Illustrated during postgame analysis. “No! …Why? It seems to me, if he puts Trey in a position to be successful, and you call a place for him like he calls a place for Sam Darnold and Brock Purdy… and Trey plays well… then Trey would have to start… I don’t think the Niners care. I think they want to justify starting Brock Purdy.”

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First of all, Shanahan doesn’t need to justify starting last sensation’s rookie sensation Brock Purdy to anyone. Purdy’s injury is the only thing that is keeping Purdy from taking the field in week 1 of the 2023 regular season.

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If Trey Lance looked bad that would actually bring his trade value down which wouldn’t be a good thing for the 49ers. There is no good output for Kyle Shanahan or the 49ers if Lance looked bad. So Cohn’s conspiracy theory isn’t that valid.

Nonetheless, the Niners’ offense struggled a lot in their first preseason game and suffered a humiliating 34-7 loss against the Raiders. The Raiders missed 2 chances at picking off Lance but he still couldn’t perform at a high level.

Related: Patrick Mahomes goes on a WILD bull ride with wife Brittany days before the NFL season kicks off

Will Brock Purdy start for the 49ers in week of 2023 season

Brock Purdy 49ers NFL emergency QB Rule
Brock Purdy (Image via SI)

The 49ers’ 2022 rookie sensation Brock Purdy suffered an elbow injury in the NFC Championship game. His recovery progress has been positive so far and he could end up starting for the Niners in week 1 of the 2023 regular season.

The 49ers’ camp has been pretty clear that Purdy would be the starter once he got fully healthy. He was initially expected to miss most of the 2023 season but now the story is different.

Just ahead of the Niners training, doctors cleared Purdy to train without restrictions and he even took first-team reps on Thursday. With just a few weeks to go for the 2023 season, Purdy is trending in the right direction in his recovery.

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