San Francisco 49ers should make Trey Lance Week 1 starting quarterback
Assuming health, the San Francisco 49ers have it all. They are loaded with impact playmakers on both sides of the ball, are built well through the trenches and are led by one of the most brilliant young head coaches in the entire NFL. However, the limited upside of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has capped the ceiling of this team in recent years. The team addressed that issue with the aggressive move up the board for Trey Lance in the 2021 NFL Draft and the sooner that Lance sees the field, the sooner that this team has a chance of seriously competing.
It is probably unfair to put it this bluntly when it comes to Garoppolo. The 29-year-old signal-caller has a 24-9 career record as the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, including leading the team to the Super Bowl during the 2019 season.
That being said, we can only give Garoppolo so much credit for that success. The 49ers have put together an extremely strong and well-built roster with impact talent across the board. Head coach Kyle Shanahan also does a great job of making life easy on Garoppolo. At this point, it is clear that Garoppolo is an average starting NFL quarterback at best, an oft-injured quarterback on top of that.
Garoppolo is not the guy. If the San Francisco 49ers want to seriously compete, they need to immediately turn to the rookie, Trey Lance.
Simply put, the San Francisco 49ers have a limited ceiling as a team with Garoppolo under center. With the talent around him, he can manage games on his way to a successful season, but I have a hard time seeing a Garoppolo-led 49ers team seriously competing in a loaded NFC this season. That being said, rookie quarterback Trey Lance has the talent to raise their ceiling in a major way.
Based on raw talent alone, Lance may have been the most gifted quarterback prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft class, and that is saying something with the likes of Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson and Justin Fields also going early. Lance displays a ridiculous combination of raw athleticism and tremendous natural arm talent at the quarterback position. He is a big, strong athlete who has a knack for creating with his legs and can hit any throw on the football field. There are not any physical limits when it comes to Lance’s game.
It is, however, fair to question whether Trey Lance is really ready to take over as an NFL starting quarterback. Due to COVID basically eliminating the FCS football season last year, Lance only started one full season in college. He was absolutely brilliant in 2019 as the starting quarterback at North Dakota State, but it is fair to wonder whether a one-year FCS starter is really ready to come in and compete at the NFL level right away.
Despite the concern, Lance showed impressive field vision in college, showing an advanced ability to read through his progressions and make the correct throw. Make no mistake about it, Trey Lance is not your normal FCS quarterback. This guy is a fantastic talent who understands the game extremely well.
Trading all the way up to No. 3 from No. 11 overall for Lance proves that the San Francisco 49ers believe in Lance and Kyle Shanahan seems to have more confidence in his rookie quarterback than he expected to at this point.
Trey Lance has consistently proved doubters wrong through this point of his career and he will only continue to do so. He is going to force his way onto that field eventually and there is nothing that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be able to do to stop him. Why delay the inevitable? The San Francisco 49ers should put faith in Trey Lance by making him their starting quarterback right away.