The San Francisco 49ers have one of the best rosters in the NFL. Don’t believe us? The 49ers boast the league’s fourth-best Super Bowl odds, per DraftKings — even though we don’t truly know who will be their starting quarterback in Week 1. San Francisco’s signal-caller situation will likely be decided by health and injury recovery timelines, but the 49ers have several other position battles worth watching as training camp approaches.

Top San Francisco 49ers Training Camp Battles To Watch

Quarterback | Brock Purdy vs. Trey Lance vs. Sam Darnold

If Brock Purdy is healthy for Week 1 after recovering from a March surgery to repair his torn UCL, the 49ers are unlikely to have a true quarterback battle. Still, general manager John Lynch left the door open for Trey Lance or Sam Darnold.

“Brock is the leader in the clubhouse, as we said, but it’s open for competition,” Lynch said in May.

Purdy, the final pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, emerged following season-ending injuries to Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo to lead the 49ers to a 5-0 finish to close the regular season. Working within the friendly confines of Kyle Shanahan’s scheme, Purdy ranked second in the NFL in expected points added per dropback over the last five weeks of the year.

Purdy, who helped guide San Francisco to the NFC title game before getting injured, is now throwing three times per week. While it’s still unclear if he’ll be forced to start training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, the 49ers seem encouraged by his progress and are planning for him to start in Week 1.

If Purdy is on track, San Francisco’s QB competition will instead feature Lance and Sam Darnold fighting for the club’s backup job. Lance, who began the 2022 campaign as the 49ers’ starter before suffering an ankle injury in Week 2, was the subject of trade rumors throughout the offseason.

Just two years ago, San Francisco sacrificed three first-round picks for Lance, but the North Dakota State product no longer appears to be a part of the team’s long-term plans. It’s entirely possible Shanahan and Co. will find that Darnold is a better fit for their system and roll with the former Panther and Jet as their No. 2 behind Purdy.

Right Guard | Spencer Burford vs. Jon Feliciano

The 49ers certainly aren’t afraid to enter a season with inexperienced offensive linemen in prominent roles. Last year, San Francisco trotted out center Jake Brendel (three career starts), left guard Aaron Banks (five career snaps), and rookie Spencer Burford, who was converting from tackle to guard.

Burford made 16 starts, but he didn’t play a full complement of snaps. He rotated with veteran Daniel Brunskill at right guard, playing 745 snaps to Brunskill’s 519. Shanahan has indicated that veteran guard Jon Feliciano — who was a “priority” for the 49ers in free agency — will compete with Burford for a starting role.

Whether that means that Burford could lose his starting job or simply split snaps again is unclear. But Shanahan was complementary of Burford’s rookie-season effort.

“I thought Spencer acquitted himself really well (in 2022),” Lynch said. “He’s a really talented young man, and I think it’s only going to get better. And it’s always great to have competition and know you have someone there that if something were to happen at either spot — all three really — you’ve got a guy who’s battle-tested, who has done it. Jon was really a nice addition for us.”

The 49ers might also have a competition at right tackle, where Colton McKivitz is scheduled to take over for free agent departure Mike McGlinchey. San Francisco signed veteran Matt Pryor, who’s made 24 career starts with the Eagles and Colts, but the club seems heavily inclined to hand the starting job to McKivitz, who didn’t allow any pressures in one start last year.

Edge Rusher | Drake Jackson vs. Clelin Ferrell

San Francisco boasts one of the NFL’s best defensive players at one DE spot, where reigning Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa will return after leading the league in sacks last year. But the 49ers will have pass-rushing vacancies, as both Charles Omenihu and Samson Ebukam left via free agency.

That’s more than 1,100 snaps San Francisco will need to make up in 2023. Luckily, they have one of the league’s top defensive line coaches — Kris Kocurek — on staff. Kocurek has consistently gotten the most out of his position group, guiding Arden Key to a career year in 2021 and Kerry Hyder to 8.5 sacks in 2020.

Stuck behind Omenihu and Ebukam, Drake Jackson played fewer than a third of the 49ers’ snaps a year ago. The former second-round pick tapered off down the stretch and blamed his late-season collapse on a lack of conditioning. However, Jackson has spent the offseason focusing on strength and is now at 265 pounds after playing around 252 last year.

Jackson will likely get the first crack at reps opposite Bosa, but it will be interesting to see if Kocurek can coax production out of former Raiders rusher Clelin Ferrell, whom the 49ers signed to a one-year pact this offseason. Ferrell plays stiff and never showed much promise as an edge rusher after Las Vegas made him the fourth overall selection in 2019, but Kocurek has worked wonders before.

If Ferrell (or Hyder, who re-signed with San Francisco after managing just one sack in 2022) sees significant snaps next season, it will probably only be because Jackson hasn’t delivered on his promise.