Did Kyle Shanahan Indicate Trey Lance Would’ve Started Against the Colts?

Kyle Shanahan said something at his Wednesday presser that indicated Trey Lance would've starter against the Colts had he not sustained an injury.

Kyle Shanahan has been dropping interesting quotes left and right since the end of the 2020 season.

It has become a greater emphasis since the 49ers drafted Trey Lance. At his press conference on Wednesday, Shanahan gave an interesting answer when a reporter asked him to detail Lance’s progress since OTAs.

“I think it's been good. I think it was real unfortunate that, at the time he got to play, I thought he was ready to take off a little bit after that getting that experience. I thought that that was going to be great for him to come back the next week, especially with Jimmy banged up a little bit, but he had an unfortunate injury and it's lasting a little longer than expected. So, I'm excited to get him out there today. But he hasn't done anything in a couple of weeks, so we'll see where his progress is now.”

Did Shanahan indicate Lance would’ve been the starter against the Colts?

I think he did.

That is the most weighted quote from Shanahan in regards to Lance playing. If Lance never sustained a knee sprain, then he was poised to start against the Colts. And had he played, the 49ers would have had an increased chance to win that game. They actually could’ve challenged the Colts deep like how Carson Wentz did drawing multiple pass interferences. Had the 49ers won that game with Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo never sees his starting role again.

Unfortunately for Lance, his knee sprain was poor timing. Shanahan is going to keep rolling out Garoppolo until he looks abysmal in a streak of games or until the 49ers are out of the playoff picture. He even talked about how scout team is beneficial for a rookie quarterback, so that’s enough indication that Shanahan is back to keeping Lance on the shelf.

“And I think if you look at a lot of rookie quarterbacks and you talk to a lot, not always do guys get to play much on scout team. And I think everyone who has, would tell you that it was very beneficial.”

Shanahan just doesn’t have a real plan with the quarterbacks. Wednesday’s whole press conference was a contradiction by him. He talks about benefiting from scout team for a rookie quarterback, but the first part in that answer he says, “The more football you can play, the better, especially at this level.” And yet he doesn’t think giving Lance first-team reps is beneficial? Egregious.

The best part is when Shanahan talks about Justin Fields saying, “He's getting better each week.” Maybe that is just his typical coach talk, but my goodness. That is practically an admitance that Fields is benefiting from playing. It is a concept that Shanahan cannot envision for his own rookie quarterback. His short-sightedness is killing the team.

Until he can realize this, the 49ers will be in a stunted position.