We have only seen Trey Lance play 10 meaningful quarters of action through his rookie season, but the 49ers get to see the daily progression of their future franchise quarterback behind the scenes.
49ers general manager John Lynch executed a high-profile trade before the 2021 NFL Draft, when he sent three first-round picks and a third-rounder to move up to No. 3 overall and select Lance. Lynch joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Friday to share his impressions of Lance throughout his rookie season and more. Listen the full interview below:
“I think it’s been awesome,” Lynch said. “I’m sure a lot of people would think, ‘Man, this guy’s crazy. What do you mean? He hasn’t played that much.’ But we had a plan for Trey. The plan was to take him week-by-week. We just wanted to see constant growth and development. The thing I’ll tell you about Trey – we’re more excited about him today than when we drafted him. And that’s because of the amount of horsepower he has. And when you're trying to find a franchise quarterback, you're looking at everything. You're looking at competitive greatness, about when the moment's big, how are they going to respond? You're talking about the physical traits and tools. He's got all of those."
Lance led the 49ers to a 23-7 win in Week 17 but watched from the sidelines as Garoppolo returned in Week 18 and led San Francisco to a thrilling 27-24 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams to reach the playoffs. The rookie finished the regular season with a 57.7 completion percentage (41-of-71) for 603 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions, while rushing 38 times for 168 yards and a score.
Lynch added that he likes the way Lance has handled coach Kyle Shanahan’s complex playbook.
"The mental capacity, Kyle's going to challenge a quarterback, and any player, for that matter,” Lynch said. "Can he handle that? Absolutely. You check that box. And then a lot of it is just experience, and the best way to get that is on the field. But we also had a team capable, so we were going to make the best decision. We've been very creative as to how we try to further that growth without him playing game reps, and I've seen him get better right before our eyes.”
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Lynch said he also likes the way Lance has been able to mesh with Garoppolo throughout the season despite the tenuous situation.
“He's also got that quality, like Jimmy, he's just a guy that people love and like, and his teammates have that respect for him,” Lynch said. “It's been awesome to watch Jimmy and Trey develop their relationship. I give Jimmy all the credit for that because it woulda been easy to say, 'Hey, get out of my room.' Instead, he's done nothing but help the kid. It's been awesome and I think that's kinda representative of the feel that this team has for each other. We all have each others' backs. That's what makes you feel so confident going into this playoff run."
With the 49ers’ next loss, the Garoppolo era is likely over and the Trey Lance era will begin. Garoppolo admitted that his uncertain future with the franchise has weighed on him all season, but it doesn’t appear to have taken away from his relationship with his rookie successor.
