As Brock Purdy's recovery timeline becomes more clear, it's becoming even more obvious that the San Francisco 49ers aren't going to trade Trey Lance.

All one has to do is listen to what head coach Kyle Shanahan told the media on Tuesday.

"I hope all three of these guys are with us and I don't want to lose any of them," Shanahan told reporters at the NFL's Annual Meetings. "But, we'll listen to anything. Just like we'll listen if someone wants to trade for John Lynch and if someone wants to trade for me, I'm sure John Lynch will listen. We'll listen to anything.

"But our goal is always to see how good we can make our team and we feel we're in a very good situation at quarterback right now. Not just with three guys who are capable of being starters, but we also got three guys that have allowed us to build a very good roster."

Lance's future isn't in question because the 49ers are willing to listen to potential trade offers. That's called due diligence. As long as the team is upfront and honest with Lance about the situation and they update him along the way when it's needed, there's no harm, no foul with that.

It's clear the 49ers need Lance at this point and it has zero to do with sunk costs or anything like that. There's a chance Purdy doesn't return to action until Week 4 of the regular season. The 49ers simply need capable players at the quarterback position if they want to continue to be labeled as contenders in the NFL. 

Lance gives the 49ers that exact scenario. He is a top-3 pick for a reason and the 49ers invested as much as they did for a reason: the dude can play. He's just gotta stay healthy and he should be able to put it all together.

"Trey had that job [the starting QB job] going into last season and if he would have played eight games like Purdy, no one else would have been able to come in and beat him out," said Shanahan. 

In all, the 49ers have a plan for Lance. Getting rid of him at this point would be another hole to fill, which wouldn't be ideal after the first wave of free agency. The same goes for a couple months from now. Even if Purdy's on track to be ready for Week 1, it wouldn't make much sense to trade Lance a few days before the start of mandatory minicamp. The team would be doing itself a disservice, in that regard.

There's also more to the situation than just healthy bodies and capable players. Lance's rookie contract gives the 49ers to sign superstars like Javon Hargraves, re-sign guys like Fred Warner and Deebo Samuel, and (eventually) extend guys like Nick Bosa. That's key for Lynch and Shanahan and they don't want to stray from that.

"It's everything. A couple of years ago, we realized some of the players that we had and drafted; guys like Fred, guys like [George] Kittle, guys like Deebo, Bosa, and [Dre] Greenlaw," said Shanahan. "We knew all these guys were coming up. And you can't keep all those guys if you don't have a quarterback on a rookie deal. So we saw kind of where this was going. We made the decision to go to a rookie quarterback a few years ago, and that was Trey and that's what allowed us to sign all these guys.

"… It's what allowed us to have Hargrave. It's what allows us to have a high-paid tight end, left tackle, and receiver. And that's why we went for Trey."

And for the final sticking point: What could the 49ers honestly get at this point? Lance simply hasn't played enough, nor shown enough, for teams to even come close to reimbursing what the 49ers initially paid. That has nothing to do with the aforementioned sunk cost, either. It's simply called being smart and making sure you're at least coming out even in a deal.

Now, none of this guarantees Lance wins the starting job. That's not a given. Especially considering Shanahan is planning on having him split reps with Darnold.

"I expect them both to get first team reps," said Shanahan. "But I'd like to see them in Phase I and I want to see how they come in and then getting on the field with them in Phase II and OTAs. I expect them to both work with the first team. But we'll see how that goes."

But in terms of a trade – everywhere you look, there are multiple reasons why the 49ers should keep Lance on board. And if you ask me, that's exactly what they're going to do.