The 49ers (especially head coach Kyle Shanahan) have continually said that there isn’t a QB competition in San Francisco. Shanhan reiterated that point today when asked about the coaching staff’s willingness to get rookie Trey Lance more involved in the offense.
[RELATED: Latest On Trey Lance, 49ers QB “Competition”]
“There’s not a quarterback battle right now,” the coach said (via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner on Twitter). “We’re going with our starting quarterback who I think is playing very well. I’m happy that he is so Trey is not thrown into any situations he has to do too early.”
Shanahan’s starter is Jimmy Garoppolo, who has completed 67.4-percent of his passes for 760 yards and four touchdowns (vs. only one interception) for the 2-1 49ers. Lance, the third-overall pick in this year’s draft, has seen the field for only seven total snaps. However, two of those snaps have resulted in touchdowns, including a crucial score during his team’s loss to the Packers the other night.
Considering the draft capital that the organization invested in Lance, the North Dakota State product will surely take over at center eventually. However, until Garoppolo does something to lose his role, the rookie will remain the second QB on the depth chart.
“Trey’s our backup quarterback,” Shanahan said (via Yahoo’s Jason Owens). “This isn’t the preseason. We’re not just going back and forth all the time. Trey goes in for specific plays or things we want to do.”
Get value up on him and trade in offseason for all the picks they gave up to get Lance.. smart
And develops Lance better than just throwing him into the fire. I’m not a SF fan, but this is a smart move
Smart… but who trades for Jimmy G?
Nobody for 2 firsts
Trade him back to the Patriots!!!
In the offseason Lynch and Kyle should trade Jimmy G and a 3rd to Pittsburgh for a 1st and a 5th rounder.
It’ll net the 49ers some draft capitol back, Steelers get their heir apparent to Big Ben, and the 49ers can clear some cap space to help further build their team around Lance, Kittle, Deebo, Aiyuk, Big Trent, Juice, Warner, Bosa, and their stout DL..
@bravesfan88 not a bad idea. Seems SF made a smart move holding onto Jimmy G to rebuild his value rather then selling him off for pennies on the dollar during the draft or offseason.
I don’t know if Jimmy G fits, but it wouldn’t be a terrible move. It certainly would be better for Pittsburgh than throwing a rookie behind that still awful offensive line. Ben is still unable to take more than a couple of seconds to throw before being pressured-a rookie starter would not be done any favors by that line.
I kind of consider the Saints a dark horse here. If they decide to not re-up Winston, their next decision would be actually let Armstead test free agency. Jimmy G may be an option for them if Payton does not decide to try a rookie. Like I said, I think this depends on what’s done with Winston and Armstead this offseason.
Other than that, I could also see the Bucs as a surprise candidate, but I don’t seriously think that’s likely. The Jets need a veteran backup, but they’re not trading valuable picks for one. I doubt Miami would, but it’s possible. That leaves Houston and Washington. I think neither are in a position to do such a move. So it’s not clear yet who would, but I think New Orleans might be a team to watch.
My predicted QB carousel
Watson to Miami
Tua to Houston
Jimmy G to Philly
Rodgers to Pittsburgh
Hurts to Denver
WFT and NYG draft a QB
D Jones to New Orleans
Big Ben retires
I hear Texans don’t want tua
I get that, but at this point, their return on Watson is getting smaller by day.
Tua and a first and third?
I like Jimmy and think they should trade him this offseason if he keeps this up, but performance has never been his issue. It’s health. imoLance may end up playing a bit this year because Jimmy almost always misses time due to injury. He has one full season out of the four he’s been the full time starter, this year being season number 5. We’ll see.
Most young benefit from not playing and being able to learn the complex defensive coverages and stunts
It will usually make Lance a better QB
Rogers learn behind Brett, pat behind Alex so why can lance learn behind jimmy . It fine using him here and there but I don’t think he really for a full game. Heck even the great Steve young learn behind another great. So there no harm
In sitting. But some fans can’t wait
Lance has played QB just one season in the FCS, he certainly needs time to sit, watch and learn how to run an offense and read a defense.
Despite Florio’s snarky article claiming otherwise, Garappolo played well in the loss to Green Bay. His final drive to give the 9ers the lead was fantastic, and Lance’s packages were all set up by his leading the offense. Seeing Lance’s individual moments of success is misleading given that the entirety of the context is what’s needed to understand why he has been effective in that role.
The game commentators did not help either-I recall one comparing the two in game and saying “see, a QB like Garappolo is no threat to run, so the defense can drop in coverage” (only for Garappolo to scramble out of a bad spot a few plays later, ironically) without mentioning that scrambling is not the reason Garappolo is out there. Lance is being brought in for specific plays that rely on consistent offensive tendencies to be established, which is why Garappolo is starting. He can establish those tendencies by running a pro offense and hitting his receivers from the pocket, which is not something Lance is ready to do yet. If he were, Shanahan would sit him for a lame duck QB that many people blame (wrongly) for a Super Bowl loss. There is no competition now because Lance cannot offer the consistent passing that Garappolo can at the moment. Those isolated pockets of success are dependent on that production.
Florio was quoted after the draft as saying the niner trade up was a waste due to his belief that Lance would have been available at their original spot. Florio has ZERO respect/credibility among a huge majority of the football analysts/experts/prognosticators. I’ve heard/read many who ignore him. He even looks ignorant in his expressions. A clown without the makeup
Yeah, Florio’s a self-indulging, snarky, insecure, inconsistent, pontificating, intolerant blowhard who injects his opinion into every reactionary article he writes. It’s really crappy that NBC gives him the resources it does when a much better journalist that people actually respect could be given the same. PFT runs constant stories, which is great, and in that regard they’re best, but anything written by Florio himself (and a handful of his writers) is often abjectly useless and more often needlessly provocative. He’s not as special as he thinks he is, or as insightful. He just has better resources. Despite that, he very rarely is the person to break a story, and players never mention him by name. If he does break a story, it’s usually because someone spoke to NBC, not necessarily Mike Florio himself.
They have a couple of writers who are good, and their articles aren’t bad and impart useful information (like Charean Williams). Not to mention their comment section is highly censored-despite the enormous number of toxic Patriots fans that seem to be allowed to post direct insults and challenges there (apologies to BradBlueFish and other nontoxic Pats fans; PFT’s group is just particularly awful).
Be careful what you wish for. Lance might have physical gifts, but he didn’t come close to winning the QB job, thus he clearly needs more development.