Longtime NFL insider Peter King raised some eyebrows in his latest ‘Football in America’ column this week when he speculated that the 49ers will switch from Trey Lance to Jimmy Garoppolo by Week 7.
King joined 95.7 The Game’s “Damon & Ratto” Tuesday to further explain his logic. At the crux of King’s argument is a perceived lack of confidence in Lance.
King pointed to the Cincinnati Bengals as an example, as the franchise didn’t back up Joe Burrow with a quality veteran like the 49ers did with Jimmy G.
“The Bengals didn’t do that,” King told hosts Damon Bruce and Ray Ratto. “The reason they didn’t do that is because they have total and full confidence in Joe Burrow. If the 49ers had absolute confidence in Trey Lance, they wouldn’t have done this. I think it’s easy to see. I’m not even knocking the 49ers for doing this. I’m simply saying that doing this comes at a price. That price is the mental approach and the stability and the development of Trey Lance. … The only conclusion I can draw from that is that Kyle Shanahan is having some second thoughts about whether Trey Lance is ready to go and gonna be able to make it through the season.”
Though the 49ers – including Lance, Garoppolo and coach Kyle Shanahan – are saying all the right things, King thinks Garoppolo’s mere presence has changed the dynamic.
“I don’t care what anybody says,” King said. “Trey Lance, if he has a bad game, if he has, God forbid, two bad games, is gonna leave the stadium after his second bad game and say, ‘Is that it for me? Are they giving the job to Garoppolo?’ That is the danger in all this. It’s also the opportunism. The 49ers, I totally understand why they did this. But it comes with a price.”
King thinks San Francisco’s window to contend is also a factor, as Garoppolo led the team to the NFC Championship last year and its core has stayed intact.
“I think the 49ers really find themselves in a unique situation,” King said. “I don’t envy the decision-making that they have to do on the quarterback situation.”
