Instant Analysis of the Quarterback Competition During Week 2 of 49ers OTAs

Quarterback competition? More like checkdown competition.

SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers just wrapped up OTAs for the day. Here's what happened in the quarterback competition between Trey Lance and Sam Darnold. Keep in mind, the only starters on defense who practiced were Drake Jackson, Talanoa Hufanga and Deommodore Lenoir, while the only starters on offense who did NOT practice were Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams.

TREY LANCE

Took most of the reps with the second-string offense after taking all the reps with the first-string offense last week in front of the media. Today, Lance completed 6 of 12 pass attempts with three drops -- all three of his dropped passes were accurate. His best throw was a casual 40-yard strike up the left sideline to Brandon Aiyuk on 3rd and 8. Lance is the only quarterback on the roster who can make that throw consistently. His worst throw came when he rolled left, stopped and threw back across to the field to Danny Gray running a deep crossing route away from him. The pass fluttered and died. Overall, Lance seemed too conservative, because all but two of his passes were check downs. A couple times, he checked down while a receiver was open farther downfield. You'd like to see him be more aggressive in practices, but it's good to see him hit the easy throws consistently for a change.

SAM DARNOLD

Took most of the reps with the first-string offense after taking all the reps with the second-string offense last week in front of the media. Today, Darnold completed 10 of 12 pass attempts with one drop. His best throw came when he rolled right, stopped and threw back across the field to Brandon Aiyuk running a deep crossing route away from him for a gain of 25. Darnold's worst throw came when Danny Gray beat Samuel Womack deep down the middle of the field with a post route. Darnold underthrew the pass, forced Gray to slow down and jump for the ball, which allowed Womack to recover and break it up. Like Lance, Darnold mostly checked down during this practice. On one play, Darnold quickly threw a four-yard pass on 3rd and 8 before any receiver had a chance to run past the first-down marker. I wonder if the nature of this competition will cause both quarterbacks to throw lots of short passes so the media will praise them simply for completing throws. If that's the case, this competition will produce two losers.