John Lynch, general manager of the San Francisco 49ers, said on Thursday that the team quarterback (QB) Trey Lance is "most likely" to stay with the team.

The team announced this week that Sam Darnold will be the first backup QB ahead of Lance for Brock Purdy.

"We're very happy with Trey. The most likely option is that he's here," Lynch told KNBR radio. "If we can find a landing spot for Trey, that is a really good one for him and works for our organization. That's not something that we'd turn a blind eye to. But that's not where our focus is right now. Our focus is on Trey getting back here and us being the best football team. We're getting close to Pittsburgh [in Week 1]."

It took the 49ers three first-round NFL Draft picks and one second-rounder to acquire the No. 2-overall pick to select Lance in 2021. Lance made a total of eight appearances for the team in the following two seasons. He completed 56 of 102 passes for 797 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. They were 2-2 in the four games he started in.

Last season, Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury in his second game, giving the starting position back to Jimmy Garoppolo. Then Garoppolo was injured, enabling "Mr. Irrelevant" (the final selected player in the draft) Purdy to become the starting QB.

By contrast, the Miami Dolphins made better use of the assets they received in the draft pick trade with the 49ers, landing top receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle as well as two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Bradley Chubb. They are the most likely gamechangers in the American Football Conference (AFC) East division.

Lance still has two years left of his current rookie contract with the 49ers, who will see $9.3 million and $10.9 million of cap hits of his deal in the 2023 and 2024 seasons respectively.

"Trey made incredible leaps and bounds this year," Lynch said. "I think his games showed that. I really give him a lot of credit because we didn't, like, tailor an offense that highlights what Trey is able to do, but I think he grew from that. He just played within our offense and still showed some of his ability to move around, made a lot of plays. Ultimately, Kyle and our coaching staff, they're tasked to make tough decisions, and believe me this one was painstaking for them. They came to a point where they felt like Sam had won it and nothing was going to change that."