NFL Rumors: 49ers Set To Start New Era With 2021 Top Pick

KEY POINTS

Trey Lance gets informal feelers that he will be the primary quarterback for the 49ers
The Niners seem to be open to keeping Jimmy Garoppolo in the fold
The Carolina Panthers could look into acquiring Garoppolo

The San Francisco 49ers have yet to formally announce who their starting quarterback will be for the 2022-23 NFL season.

However, it appears that the team is set to commence the Trey Lance era.

According to a report by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the 21-year-old player has been working out in the Bay Area and there are informal indications that Lance will be the Niners' starting play-caller this coming NFL season.

“I'm told that he's got indications, at least informal indications from the team, that he'll be the guy next year. He's set to be that. Now, whether that means that they would still keep Garoppolo and that could change the dynamic, possibly. But right now, Lance is going to be the starter," the sports scribe wrote via the Bleacher Report.

While this is subject to change, it is hardly surprising as it was the direction that the Niners were expected to go.

But tied to this, questions are in the air on what the future holds for Jimmy Garoppolo.

The two-time Super Bowl champion had surgery in the offseason, and there have been rumors of the 30-year-old possibly moving out.

So far, nothing close to that has happened. Regardless, the 49ers are reportedly ready to hang onto Garoppolo even if he may be kept in a backup capacity.

Despite injury-riddled NFL seasons, there is no question that Garoppolo remains reliable when he is healthy.

Although the movement of quarterbacks has happened, most NFL teams are wary of taking a chance on the Illinois native.

The latest bit on Garoppolo is that there is a chance he could draw interest from the Carolina Panthers.

The Panthers are believed to be looking for a quarterback and may go for one in the 2022 NFL Draft.

However, there are a couple of names who could tempt the Panthers- Ickey Ekwonu and Charles Cross.

Both are top offensive tackles in the coming draft that could be too good to pass up for Carolina.

If so, this could change the strategy of the Panthers who may instead opt for a veteran quarterback, Albert Breer of MMQB suggested.

Even if the Panthers end up picking up a quarterback in the later rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft, the plausible choice is to take in a battle-tested quarterback.

Hence, Garoppolo would make sense in such a scenario–the same plight he took with the Niners before the transition to Lance.