“The onus is on Trey Lance to prove it every week”
Six months after Jimmy Garoppolo’s goodbye press conference, he’s got a brand new contract with the 49ers, and potentially more than that.
Here was NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco yesterday on KNBR:
“The first takeaway is the 49ers’ quarterback room is better, there’s no question about it. Trey Lance did not have a safety net with Nate Sudfeld or with Brock Purdy. Now, not only does he have a safety net…if the 49ers lose September 11th at Chicago and Trey Lance doesn’t play well? That safety net might just become a trampoline that bounces over Trey Lance and could be the starter the next week.
I’ve long believed the 49ers were the most interesting team in football heading into this season. Now there’s no question because if Trey Lance experiences the ups and down like we all know that he will, but he downs contribute to a loss or two, this puts everybody in a difficult position.
I think we could probably all agree last year that the best quarterback to lead the 49ers was Jimmy Garoppolo. Now, they made the no-questions-asked Trey Lance is the starter, ‘We’re moving on.’ Now it’s not so clear cut that the number one quarterback is the number one quarterback, and the onus is certainly on Trey Lance to prove it every week.”
Somehow the 49ers have a quarterback controversy in 2022 before Trey Lance has even taken a snap in the regular season. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have openly talked about how they know Lance will have growing pains this season, yet they have bent over backward to ensure a replacement is waiting in the wings as soon as he does.
The simple truth is the 49ers have made a series of questionable quarterback decisions in the Kyle Shanahan era. They didn’t even scout Patrick Mahomes and watched him win a Super Bowl. They passed on Tom Brady and watched him win a Super Bowl. They missed out on Matthew Stafford and watched him win a Super Bowl. When they think they’ve finally got their version of Patrick Mahomes, they’re going to undermine Trey Lance.
And speaking of Mahomes, for all the comparisons that people made to his situation with Alex Smith in Kansas City, the Chiefs didn’t keep Smith around in 2018. They cleared the deck for their franchise quarterback as soon as they made Mahomes the starter. The Packers finally pushed Brett Favre out when they knew Aaron Rodgers was ready to start. That’s what you do when you completely believe in someone.
Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch can go on and on later today in their conference call about how much they love Trey Lance, and they can offer all the empty platitudes they want about why this move has nothing to do with their confidence in him. Don’t believe them. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words, and their actions tell us all we need to know about their true feelings. They either doubt Trey Lance’s ability, or they doubt his ability to stay healthy.
By the way, if Dontae Johnson is The Barnacle, what the hell do we call Jimmy Garoppolo now?
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