NFL: Predicting the week one starting quarterback for all 32 teams
By Kyle Edmond
San Francisco 49ers: Trey Lance
Jimmy Garoppolo did a great job with the 49ers this season. Had he made the Super Bowl, I maybe would have rethought this. However, falling one game short will keep the circumstances the same. This will be Trey Lance‘s team in 2022.
This feels like the Alex Smith-Patrick Mahomes situation in Kansas City. Pause, I’m not saying Lance will be Mahomes. Just need to clarify that. Anyway, like Smith, Garoppolo had his fate sealed before the season even started. This was going to be Lance’s team moving forward one way or another, but Lance needed a season to adjust to the NFL game and learn the complicated Kyle Shanahan offense.
Keep in mind that Shanahan was the offensive coordinator on the team in Washington that had success with Robert Griffin III. He was the offensive coordinator in Cleveland during Johnny Manziel’s rookie season. Shanahan knows how to utilize mobile quarterbacks, but neither Griffin or Manziel had the arm that Lance has.
The limited sample size we had from Lance should be enough to give San Francisco the confidence to move forward with him. The team could regress slightly next year, but the future outlook might be better with Lance given the system that Shanahan runs.