Just did a quick bit of research, and noticed that LR doesn't even come out until July. For some reason I thought it was an April/May release.
Hmm. Maybe they announce Verbinski as the director & then use the press to push Lone Ranger?
If you're wondering why I'm so set on Verb, it's just that after Bird & Abrams stepped out - the only big-name directors I can think of that are on good terms with Disney & have proven box office hits are him & Joseph Kosinski. And unless Oblivion suprises everyone, I don't think he'd have enough experience.
It's been mentioned in this (long & winding) thread, but it's less to do with "friendly with Disney" and more to do with "Friendly with Kathleen Kennedy." Like Disney's deal with Marvel, the film side is handled by Kevin Feige, not Disney execs. Disney more or less keeps their hands off. The deal with Lucasfilm will be essentially the same. Kennedy gets to run Star Wars.
She's already mentioned there are people in mind, and those people tend to have connections to her, or have previously worked with her.
The last solid bit of rumormongering seemed to point to the FIRST solid bit of rumormongering, that being Matthew Vaughn. David Fincher's name popped up for a quick second, and while people immediately went on a run of "Oh, he's so wrong for Star Wars, he only makes dark angry movies" he worked with Kennedy on Benjamin Button, and worked for Lucasfilm on Return of the Jedi, so there's history.
Again, here's a list of directors Kennedy's worked with:
Peter Jackson (Tin Tin)
Edgar Wright (Tin Tin)
Clint Eastwood (Hereafter)
M. Night Shyamalan (Last Airbender)
David Fincher (Benjamin Button)
Julian Schnabel (Diving Bell & the Butterfly)
Gary Ross (Seabiscuit)
Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III)
Plus, there's been word that Jon Favreau has been discussed, and Frank Marshall, Kennedy's husband, said back in November that Kennedy's basically got it narrowed down to two people already. Meaning whoever it is, they've probably already been chosen, it's just a matter of announcing it.
Is Verbinski on the list? Maybe. But I'd bet on Favreau, Johnston, Fincher, or Vaughn before I'd bet on Verbinski.