All signs still point to the San Francisco 49ers handing over the starting quarterback job to Trey Lance in the coming months. When this comes to fruition, Lance will have a prominent believer in his corner in longtime 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice.
While Lance did not receive a fair share of snaps played in his rookie campaign, Rice sees that the former North Dakota State passer has what it takes to anchor the 49ers offense, which he opened up about to CBS Sports HQ.
“I'm sure the players, just from working out with this guy during the week, during practice, they have a pretty good perception of what he's capable of doing,” Rice said. “I see a guy that's really raw, with a very strong arm, that has that ‘it factor,' where he can go out and elevate his teammates.
“Listening to Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, all those guys, they really believe in Trey Lance. And I think he's going to have a great season this year.”
As Rice touched on, many 49ers players do believe in Lance and his overall potential as a quarterback. Among them is all-around offensive talent Deebo Samuel. The versatile wide receiver saw glimpses of Lance over the preseason and in multiple regular season games, and he also has plenty of trust in the first-year quarterback to guide the offense.
“Seeing what I see in Trey [Lance], it’s going to take time with him not having as many reps this year to come in and be the guy I know he can be,” Samuel told ESPN’s ‘First Take' show ahead of Super Bowl 56. “With time, you get better. I put all my trust in Trey.”
Lance is expected to anchor a 49ers offense that shined this past season. From Samuel's versatility to just how innovative now-former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was with the team’s running back depth, the offense was constantly keeping opposing defenses on close watch over a weekly basis.
Rice views that the transition for Lance to take hold of the starting quarterback job for the 49ers will not be much of an arduous one because of the pieces that he will have around him.
“I think they've got everything else in place,” Rice said. “You look at the offense, you look at the defense, last year almost getting to the Super Bowl; they've got all the pieces right now in place. Now, it's going to be up to Trey Lance to step in and do his part, and help that team get to a Super Bowl.”
As mentioned, the 49ers have not yet officially named Lance as their starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2022 season. 49ers team officials are still in a dilemma regarding the future of Jimmy Garoppolo. But when the time comes for Lance to receive the keys to lead the 49ers offense, all eyes sure will be on just how he will conduct play and whether he may go on to live up to the hefty expectations that were placed on him when he was drafted by the team last year.
As Rice noted, Lance will have the pieces in play next season to thrive and possibly lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance following their 2022 NFC Championship Game elimination to the Los Angeles Rams earlier this year.
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