49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan once again passed on, naming either quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo or Trey Lance the team’s starter after their 15-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in their second preseason game.
Neither Garoppolo nor Lance was exceptional on Sunday, which seemed to solidify further the veteran Garoppolo, who Shanahan has insisted is the favorite to start throughout the offseason.
However, he refused to finalize any decision in a postgame conversation with reporters.
I’m not making that announcement. Not tonight. When? It’s hard for me to give a date when it’s based on when we know and we feel like naming it. So whenever that happens, but I promise it’ll be by that Sunday.
Shanahan acknowledged that “The situation is pretty similar” to how it was when camp began, reinforcing Garoppolo is still in the lead to start Week 1. However, it seems that the fifth-year head coach is refusing to close the door on Lance taking a developmental jump late in the preseason.
Plenty of head coaches have held off on announcing the winners of position battles publically to try and gain an advantage over future opponents, who are forced to prepare for either player.
Given how consistently Shanahan insisted that he was comfortable starting Garoppolo throughout the offseason, it seems like he’s changing his tune at just the right time to create uncertainty for opposing coaches.