SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers are toeing a fine line with Trey Lance this season.
On one hand, they moved up nine spots in the 2021 NFL Draft with three first-rounders and a third-rounder because they were enamored by Lance’s dual-threat capabilities. On the other hand, they probably don’t wanna see Lance taking so many big hits on a weekly basis as a ball carrier.
Through the first three starts of his NFL career, Lance is averaging 12.3 rushes per game. For reference, Lamar Jackson set the NFL quarterback record with 176 rushes in 2019, an average of 11.7 per game (he played 15 contests).
Lance is liable to scramble a few times every game, but Shanahan also dialed up nine designed runs for Lance against the Chicago Bears in the sloppy conditions. You have to wonder if that type of run load is sustainable for the 22-year-old Lance going forward.
Judging from his comments to reporters Wednesday in Santa Clara, he’s not gonna be pulling back on the reins any time soon.
“Continuing to grow,” Lance said. “There’s always going to be, like I said a million times, there’s always going to be better decisions I can make. But on Sunday I felt like I protected myself pretty well, I felt good for the most part. Maybe a couple I could have got down one step faster or slashing, finding an edge and getting down. But for the most part, when I'm running between the tackles or running on third down, I'm not ever going to slide and go fourth-and-two and just give up on the play and send our defense on the field if it's a situation like that.”
You gotta appreciate the competitiveness from Lance, who is a load to tackle at 6-foot-4, 224, but it might be smart to slide in some of those situations. As we know, Lance doesn’t have much experience beyond the high school level. Following the 49ers preseason opener, Lance was beaming about taking a slide, saying it was the first one of his life.
Lance carried the ball 13 times for 54 yards in Week 1 and was also sacked twice. On Wednesday, Lance’s friend and Bears quarterback Justin Fields said Lance needs to watch himself.
“I gotta talk to my boy Trey,” Fields said. “He was taking too many hits out there. I try to not take any hits at all. To be honest with you. Unless the game’s on the line.”
Shanahan disagreed with Fields’ assessment, though.
“Quarterbacks, you have to pick and choose,” Shanahan said . “Sliding is the best deal, but sometimes there's ways to go down forward without taking the hits and I think Trey's done a pretty good job of that. Did a lot better in this game too.”
Lance admitted his athleticism can only go so far in the NFL.
“I’m not bigger, faster, and stronger than pretty much everyone else,” Lance said. “Guys catch up a lot quicker, space is filled, guys close a lot faster, and I have to learn to protect myself, just being in a different situation knowing how important it is for me to stay healthy.”
