Brian Griese Sizes Up the 49ers Quarterbacks
SANTA CLARA -- Brian Griese recently sized up all three of the 49ers quarterbacks -- Brock Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold. Here's what Griese said.
ME: "What's your first impression of Sam Darnold? What do you like about him?"
GRIESE: "Sam has come in and been about the work. He has been through a lot in his career. I think everybody that knows football or watches football can see the skill set that Sam has. To me it was about can we give him the structure and stability upon which that he can see how good of a player that he can be. I think that our system, our offense, it's taylor suited to a quarterback coming in and finding their footing and getting stability. Sam has that opportunity now. We'll see what he does with that opportunity."
Q: "How unusual was it for someone in Brock's position to come in so developed?"
GRIESE: "Um, well, Brock has a lot of work to do. He had an unbelievable year..."
Q: "I mean more of the mental and emotional tools."
GRIESE: "Um, I think that Brock has an even demeanor. He has played a lot of football, so he has been in some of those situations. He's had to deal with some of those peaks and valleys, and I think he had an emotional maturity about him. I think that he has a lot of experiences that he hasn't had, and he had a lot of them last year, some that he dealt with unbelievably well. Pressure situations. Playoffs. When I was a rookie, I didn't know where the restroom was. And then to step into a huddle with guys like George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams and to be able to handle that emotionally, to be able to handle the offense mentally, in a high-pressure situation, in a playoff situation, was not normal for a quarterback his age. And so he has an unbelievable start to his career. Now, there's a lot of things that Brock can and needs to get better at for this team to go where we want to go. Brock and I, we've had that conversation, and he's the first one to tell you, and that's normal too for a young player. I'm excited to get him back, get him healthy and see how good he can be."
Q: "What are some of the things you want to see him continue to develop?"
GRIESE: "Every part of his game. When you're thrown into the fire, there's a lot that you learn on the fly, and there are a lot of things that we all saw that he does really well -- his composure, his accuracy, his escapability. I'd love to see him continue to grow in every aspect of playing quarterback, and that's timing, rhythm, accuracy, it's reading defenses, it's playing from the pocket, limiting turnovers, giving our team the best chance to win."
Q: "What's your role in terms of establishing the quarterback depth chart?"
GRIESE: "Um, I don't know. I've never had a conversation about it."
Q: "What differences do you see in Trey Lance now versus last year?"
GRIESE: "I think that Trey had an unbelievably difficult season. I'm so proud of what he was able to accomplish, because nobody wants to be in that situation, and Trey did everything he possibly could do last offseason to get healthy, and I don't think people realized how difficult that was for him all the while trying to go out every single day and prove that you can be the guy to lead the team. I've been in that situation -- that's not easy. And then to be at that position, to finally have an opportunity to go out and play, and then to get hurt so early, it's devastating. It really is. I'm so proud of Trey because it did get him down, but he didn't let it keep him down. He came back and he was around the team. Obviously he couldn't play on the field, but he impacted this team in a positive way. I could feel it in our quarterback room. I know Brock could feel it. That's not a given, especially at quarterback. You could slink away and just go lick your wounds and get healthy and come back next year, but that's not who Trey Lance is. That's why I told him I'm so proud of him for what he was able to accomplish off the field because he wasn't able to do it on the field. I'm just happy that he's back and healthy and he can go out there and see how good he can be."
Q: "Trey Lance has been working on his mechanics with Jeff Christiansen. How much of a challenge will it be to carry over those improvements to live action and what part of that process will you have in coaching him?"
GRIESE: "We've talked a lot with Trey about a lot of different aspects of his mechanics. I think a quarterback throws how they throw. I think you only start to address it when it becomes an issue, whether it's accuracy or he had some arm soreness in years past, but he has put in the work, and I give him credit. He's got to a point now where he's healthy. A lot of the mechanics stuff is overblown because he had a broken finger. If I had a ball, I'd show you guys how hard it is to throw a ball without your index finger touching the ball. That's incredibly difficult and almost impossible to throw a spiral that way. I'm happy that he's healthy and that he can actually pronate and throw the ball the way it's meant to be thrown and that he can give himself a chance to compete."
Q: "How is Trey Lance's ankle responding and how is his footwork coming along?"
GRIESE: "That was a gruesome injury, and I guess I didn't know how he would come back from it. Personally, I haven't seen any impact from the ankle in OTAs."
Q: "What has Purdy been doing as he rehabs?"
GRIESE: "Brock is in all our meetings. We're asking him the same questions we're asking other guys. We're not giving him any mental breaks. I think he's itching to get back out there. It seems like it has been forever since he played, but it's only been four or five months. We have to be smart and take it slow, because you just don't want any setbacks and it's not a race right now."
ME: "You mentioned you've talked to Brock about where he needs to improve. Does he take feedback better than most young quarterbacks?"
GRIESE: "I don't know. This is the first young quarterback I've coached."
