It’s safe to say that former Super Bowl coach Mike Holmgren is no fan of how the San Francisco 49ers have handled the development of quarterback Trey Lance.
Appearing on 95.7 The Game’s “Morning Roast” yesterday, Holmgren expressed some disagreement with how the 49ers have chosen to design run plays for Lance. He asserted that he would not have designed so many runs for Lance and to let it happen naturally instead.
“As much as they put in to work with him, make him the guy — I would not have chosen to run with him,” Holmgren said. “He’s going to make it happen naturally.
Holmgren pointed out that the 49ers “always run the risk” of Lance getting hurt on running plays and in this case the worst happened.
“You always run the risk of that guy getting banged up and then the worst thing could possibly happen.”
Plenty of NFL fans found themselves in agreement with Holmgren:
Things are looking a little rough for Trey Lance’s development so far. Now that he’s gone for the season, he’ll head into 2023 – his third year with the team – with just eight games, four starts and only three complete games under his belt.
The 49ers will have to make a decision on Lance’s fifth-year option after the 2023 season too, so they’re probably going to have a very small sample size to work with too.
Lance is going to need to absolutely ball out when he gets back.
Better playcalling would make it a lot easier for him to do so.