In the 2022/23 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers made the NFC Championship Game for the second year in a row. But they did so with a threadbare quarterback staff.

After second-year quarterback Trey Lance (who had been named the starter before the season began) went down with a broken ankle in only Week 2, head coach Kyle Shanahan turned back to the man he had replaced, Jimmy Garoppolo. The veteran Garoppolo actually ended up having a better season than he had before Nance replaced him, throwing for 16 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 11 starts for a 103.0 quarterback rating. But although he was the starting quarterback for most of the season, Garoppolo himself got injured as the postseason loomed, breaking a foot in Week 13, and a third option was required.

Into that breach stepped rookie Brock Purdy. And Mr Irrelevant quickly became Mr Relevant. The last player picked in the 2022 NFL Draft was not expected to feature much at all, yet was quickly forced into the starting role of a team with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. And he almost got them there.

Purdy fell in the draft due to the belief that, in not being particularly big or quick nor having the best arm strength, he did not have the physical profile to make it as a regular NFL quarterback. As opposed to someone like Lance - the third overall pick in the previous draft - Purdy was thought to be unable to rush or break tackles, thus not a dual threat at the position, and while he was proven to be an intelligent passer, the core strength of his throws was deemed to be more important.

It quickly transpired, though, that it wasn't. Purdy needed no adjustment period; he threw accurately, routinely made the right decisions, extended plays, created touchdowns and won big games. Indeed, the main reason that the 49ers failed in their second consecutive NFC Championship Game was because it was Purdy's turn to get injured, tearing a ligament in his elbow in that game that rendered him unable to throw. He played on anyway, because he had to, but there was no overcoming the loss of all three quarterbacks.

From irrelevancy, Purdy had played himself into the Best Rookies discussion, and salvaged a season that had twice looked doomed to fail. This, though, presents the team with a poser.

Lance is slated to be ready for the start of the season, as is Purdy, and while Garoppolo has moved onto the Las Vegas Raiders, veterans Sam Darnold and Brandon Allen have been brought in to add depth to a positional rotation that, last year, needed it so badly. Even in the likely scenario that Darnold and Allen know they are not here to be the opening night starter, the question becomes - who is?

The PR machine is pushing the narrative to the media that Lance will be the chosen oe. He is the least proven of the four - something that seems odd to say when one of the people he is competing against was an as-near-as-was undrafted rookie - but has the best athleticism, and, by virtue of his draft status, the highest level of team investment behind him. The 49ers will understandably want to protect that investment, and want to develop the best quarterback prospect they have had in a generation. But they will also want to win games. On the basis of last season, the best option for that is Purdy.

Because of the higher upside conferred by his physical profile, Lance in the future might be better than Purdy has already been. But what's wrong with a little immediacy?