The Trey Lance era for the San Francisco 49ers unofficially began when Jimmy Garoppolo threw the late interception in the fourth quarter of the 2022 NFC Championship Game, which clinched a Super Bowl berth for the Los Angeles Rams.

The 49ers have yet to officially announce that they plan on parting ways with Garoppolo in the offseason in order to hand the starting quarterback job over to Lance, but all signs point to this transpiring in the coming months. Reports dating back to this past regular season noted that Garoppolo will be traded in the offseason.

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young is much familiar with the transition that Lance will soon embark on. The longtime 49ers quarterback sat on the bench and watched as quarterback Joe Montana led the team to notable success until his name was called upon to lead the way in the 1991 campaign.

Young sees that there is still plenty of room for improvement across the board for the former North Dakota State star, and he aspires to see the team further help his development by signing a veteran quarterback in the offseason, which he explained why to KNBR’s “Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks” show.

“I think Trey is so raw,” Young said. “With the number of snaps he's had in college, it should be very obvious to all of us that there's just not the pure number of snaps, and it's so much about — I'll call it metering the position, just all of it that you figure out in college from playing tough ball games. The fact is that didn't happen very much.

“I'm a big fan of [putting] somebody around you that can push you. So, I'm not looking to not do that, but more than anything, he needs someone older who can tell him ‘this matters' or ‘this doesn't matter.' ‘You better be on this one,' and if you're not on this one, teach him how to study and how to memorize, and how to [have] reflexive recall, so that everything that comes out of him is reflexive, and he doesn't have to think about it.”

Lance notched a mere two starts over his rookie campaign — both of which came after Garoppolo sustained notable injuries during the season. Overall, Lance recorded six total touchdowns, as he featured in plenty of run-pass option plays.

In the big picture, the 49ers may have plenty of options for a veteran quarterback to play the role of a coach for Lance next season. The likes of Andy Dalton and Ryan Fitzpatrick are among multiple such quarterbacks who will be unrestricted free agents in March.

A crucial offseason awaits the 49ers in a few months.