Analyzing Day 10 of the 49ers Quarterback Competition
The 49ers are working hard to boost Jimmy Garoppolo's confidence before his preseason debut this Saturday at home against the Chiefs.
So today, they gave most of the defensive starters the day off and let Garoppolo dice up a defense that was missing Dee Ford, Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, Samson Ebukam, Jason Verrett, Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt.
And so, Garoppolo played well. He completed 10 of 13 passes, and even hit his first deep throw of camp. Now, the 49ers can continue to push their narrative that he's having a "lights out" offseason, and hopefully trade him for a first-round pick before Week 1.
But first, he'll need to play well this Saturday against the Chiefs.
Here's the play by play of Garoppolo's practice and Trey Lance's practice.
JIMMY GAROPPOLO
1. Completed a 15-yard pass to Deebo Samuel, who was running an out route against Emmanuel Moseley. Garoppolo lofted the ball over K'Waun Williams' outstretched hand. Beautiful touch throw.
2. Completed a 20-yard pass to a wide open Samuel running a deep crossing route from left to right.
3. Completed a check down to fullback Josh Hokit for 5 yards.
4. Threw an incomplete pass at the shoelaces of Samuel, who was running a curl route.
5. Completed a 5-yard pass to Mohamed Sanu, who was running an out route against Williams.
6. Completed a 5-yard pass to Hokit, who was running a swing route in the left flat. The pass was a sinker that nearly hit Hokit in the feet.
7. Threw a gorgeous 60-yard touchdown pass to Samuel, who beat linebacker Dre Greenlaw with a fade route. The pass traveled roughly 35 yards in the air and landed perfectly over Samuel's shoulder. This throw proves Garoppolo's issues with the deep ball are mostly mental. He has more than enough arm strength.
8. Completed a five-yard pass to Sanu, who was running an out route. Javon Kinlaw tagged Garoppolo for the sack before he released the ball.
9. Completed a 15-yard pass to Brandon Aiyuk, who was running a curl route against Dontae Johnson.
10. Rolled left and dumped the ball to Hokit for 5 yards.
11. Fumbled the center-quarterback exchange with Alex Mack for the fourth time in camp.
12. Rolled left and dumped another 5-yard pass to Hokit.
13. Threw an incomplete pass behind Samuel, who was running a slant. Emmanuel Moseley got a hand on the throw.
14. Threw another incomplete pass to Samuel who was running another slant route. Moseley broke it up again. Moseley is good.
TREY LANCE
1. Ran a zone read to the left and lost 3 yards.
2. Threw a strike over the middle to Jauan Jennings who was running a dig route from right to left, but Jennings dropped it.
3. Rolled left and threw a rope back across the field to Trent Sherfield, who was running a curl route, and gained 20 yards.
4. Fumbled the quarterback-running back exchange during a zone-read for the fifth time in camp.
5. Completed a 5-yard pass to Hokit, who was running a flat route to the left.
6. Completed a 15-yard pass to Richie James Jr., who was running a dig route from right to left. Maurice Hurst tagged Lance for the sack before he released the ball.
7. Completed a 25-yard pass up the left seam to George Kittle, who was covered by Marcell Harris and Tony Jefferson. Lance fit the ball between two defenders and Kittle made a fantastic catch.
8. Completed a 15-yard pass to Jennings, who was running a curl route against Ambry Thomas.
9. Threw an incomplete screen pass to JaMycal Hasty.
10. Threw an incomplete pass to Hokit, who was running a flat route to the right. The pass was low.
11. Threw a strike to James who was running a dig route from left to right, but James dropped the ball.
12. Rolled left and dumped a 5-yard pass to Sherfield.
13. Completed a 15-yard pass to Ross Dwelley, who was running a dig route from left to right. The pass was high, and Dwelley made a leaping catch.
14. Completed a 15-yard pass on a line to Sherfield, who was running an out route against Deommodore Lenoir.
15. Scrambled for 10 yards.
Lance played almost exclusively with the backups -- the one exception being the throw to Kittle -- and completed 8 of 12 pass attempts with two drops. Not bad.
Last week, when the 49ers installed the Lance offense, which includes a million different zone reads and play-action rollout passes, Lance was the best player on the field. He had a two-day stretch when he completed 20 of 22 passes.
But the past two days, the 49ers have been practicing the vanilla offense they will run this Saturday against the Chiefs, so Lance has mostly stayed in the pocket and run the Garoppolo offense with the backups.
I imagine the 49ers will keep the Lance offense a secret for the rest of the offseason. We already know too much.
But we'll see it Week 1. I bet you.
