And then there were three.
Brandon Allen officially is the 49ers' No. 3 quarterback, and after Friday night's preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers, he shared his thoughts on the Trey Lance trade to the Dallas Cowboys that finalized the depth chart.
“It’s always the tough thing when stuff like that happens,” Allen said. “I think for him, in the long run, it will be a good thing. I think he’s going to be a great player in this league for a long time. I’ve really enjoyed the time I had with him here. I know he’s probably going to do good things for Dallas. I just know the kind of guy and the kind of teammate he is. That’s always tough to lose.”
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Allen didn’t have the smoothest outing Friday at Levi's Stadium, but he was happy to have game reps. He completed 2 of 6 passes for 23 yards with one interception in the 49ers' 23-12 loss.
“I don’t think my mindset has changed at all since the day I got here to now,” Allen said. “I’ve always just wanted to do the best I could with what I got. Now the regular season is starting, so things change. Our whole focus now is Pittsburgh [in Week 1] and then here in a couple of days, we are going to get down to the 53-[man roster]. We’ll just see how everything shakes out.”
Allen, who started nine games in four seasons with the Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals, likely will have very limited snaps on the practice field now that the preseason has officially ended, as all of the first-team snaps will go to starter Brock Purdy. Sam Darnold, now the No. 2, will practice against the 49ers' starting defense while portraying the opposing team's quarterback.
Still, Allen, who also has spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams, will prepare for every scenario. He and the 49ers know anything can happen over the course of a season, including needing a fourth quarterback to play, as what happened last season, when Purdy, Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo and Josh Johnson all took snaps for San Francisco.
