49ers Mishandling Trey Lance's Development Exposes Kyle Shanahan's Weakness
Two years ago the San Francisco 49ers made an exciting move.
They moved up in the NFL draft from their No. 12 spot to No. 3 at the expense of three first-round picks. It was a clear message that the 49ers were done with Jimmy Garoppolo after the 2020 season.
They wanted to start a new chapter at quarterback. One that could uplift and give the offense stability since Garoppolo could never stay healthy. That new chapter was in the form of North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance. Everyone in the 49ers building was elated by the addition at the time. It was the first opportunity that head coach Kyle Shanahan has gotten with the team to mold a promising quarterback. Fast forward it to today where the excitement is not only gone, but potentially Lance himself from the team.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed that the 49ers had named Sam Darnold as the No. 2 quarterback behind starter Brock Purdy. As a result, the 49ers are "exploring options" with Lance that can include trading him or keeping him as the No. 3 quarterback. It's safe to say now that trading up and drafting Lance has been a disaster. This is not what either Lance or the 49ers envisioned two years ago. Both sides played their part in this not working out, but I would skew the blame towards the 49ers.
They completely mishandled Lance's development, which exposes Shanahan's weakness.
The weakness of Shanahan is that he can't evaluate the quarterback position. Much of that has to do with his impatience. He doesn't want to wait around for his quarterback to be ready. He's like a kid who sees a flashy new toy and immediately wants it. That happened with Garoppolo in 2017, Lance in 2021, and now Purdy in the last year. Shanahan probably anticipated that Lance would have taken a massive leap as soon as he got with the 49ers. However, it was never going to be that simple and is a misevaluation on the 49ers' part.
Lance was an incredibly raw prospect going into the NFL draft. He was always going to need substantial playing time to develop. Practice reps were a good kick starter for him, but that wasn't how he was ever going to improve. What the 49ers should have done was start Lance from the jump in 2021. Garoppolo was already a dead man walking with the team, yet Shanahan thought he could copy and paste what the Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes to Lance. It was always a ridiculous, and arguably delusional, thought process. Imagine thinking that was going to work for a player who had 318 pass attempts in college. The fact that he had so few pass attempts was used as criticism against Lance.
But it is that exact criticism that proves the point as to why he needs to play. His last two preseason outings have shown that he hasn't grown much since entering the league. It isn't shocking since he hasn't played. It's unfathomable to think he was ever going to drastically improve without playing. To make matters worse, the 49ers were never working with Lance in 2021. They kept using him as a scout team quarterback to give them unique looks in practice. Instead of spending time with him to improve in the 49ers offense or on his weaknesses, they had Lance spend week after week trying to replicate a new offense.
Now, injuries did play a significant role as well. He had a broken finger in the preseason finale his rookie year, then broke his ankle last year in Week 2. That is part of the unfortunate series of events that I have been attaching to Lance for the last year. And It's why I am focusing mostly on 2021 being the crux of the matter where the 49ers went wrong with him. The broken finger could have been avoided if Lance was the starter since he likely wouldn’t have been playing that late in a preseason game.
Shanahan and the 49ers deserve all the criticism in the world for this blunder. Lance is not a bust and doesn't deserve much blame here. How can someone be called a bust if they haven't even gotten opportunities? That notion is completely hateful and laughable. The 49ers messed up, and yet they are still a successful franchise by making consistent playoff runs. That is the only reason why Shanahan is safe because despite this blunder, he still has the 49ers as one of the elite teams in the NFL.
At this point I think it's time for both the 49ers and Lance to go their separate ways. Lance needs a team who will invest time and support in him to develop. That team is no longer the 49er
