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Amid much outside talk centering on whether Trey Lance is on track to be the San Francisco 49ers’ starter at the quarterback position next season, the team reportedly feels that he is ready to take on such a challenge.
FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer took some time to speak on the NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Talk” podcast, where he noted that the team has been much impressed with the first-year quarterback as of late.
“I've heard great stuff about him, honestly,” Glazer said. “I've heard they love him. They're enamored with him. He does some things in practice that make you go, ‘Oh my goodness.' But he's young.
“I think halfway through the season, they were almost tempted to go with him. Then Jimmy just started playing better and better and better and better and better. I think they lucked out by him getting hurt, so they couldn't force him in earlier.”
As it currently stands, all signs point to Lance being the 49ers starting quarterback come Week 1 of the 2022 season. The 49ers once again went with Jimmy Garoppolo to start at the position this past season, but after a roller-coaster campaign that culminated in a playoff elimination at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams in the 2022 NFC Championship Game, the front office is well expected to trade him in the coming months, although it remains to be seen whether this will come to fruition before the start of the free agency period in March.
For 49ers general manager John Lynch, he is much confident in Lance heading into the 2022 season because of his promising rookie campaign.
Article Continues Below“He is who we thought he was and probably even stronger,” Lynch said in his end-of-season press conference. “You have to have a lot to you. You have to have a lot of substance to play quarterback in this league both physically and from just a who you are standpoint. And I think Trey checks both those boxes.
“Then I think what he showed me is that in the moments, and there were few, but when he had an opportunity to go play, I saw that competitive greatness that you look for in people who are going to lead your organization. And so even though we saw it, however brief it was, I saw it. And so it gives me a lot of belief that it’s there and that he’s exactly who we thought he was when we picked him. And we’re really excited about that.”
As Lynch touched on, Lance did not have many snaps to work with over the course of his rookie campaign. Overall, the former North Dakota State star logged 178 total snaps played on offense and completed 71 pass attempts in his debut season in San Francisco.
Nonetheless, Lance will be prepared when the time comes for him to be the starting quarterback for the 49ers.
“I’m going to be ready to go Week 1 without a doubt,” Lance told the NFL Network ahead of Super Bowl 56. “I'm super excited for the opportunity, I feel like I learned a lot and will continue to learn. But excited to get it going again.”
In the big picture, plenty of attention sure will be on Lance next season should he be given the keys to anchor the 49ers offense.
