Steve Young Seems to Think Trey Lance is Similar to Alex Smith
Steve Young clearly cares about the development of Trey Lance.
Young routinely takes time out of his busy schedule to talk to Lance and mentor him simply because Young cares about young players and his former team. But Young doesn't merely mentor Lance -- he also analyzes and judges the 49ers new franchise quarterback who many people compare to a young Steve Young.
Young was one of the 10 greatest quarterbacks ever. Odds are Lance won't ever be as good as him, although Lance certainly has the talent to match him one day.
Here's Young's current assessment of Lance, which Young delivered recently on 95.7 the Game. When you read Young's take, tell me if it doesn't seem like he's describing a 49ers quarterback from the not-so-distant past -- Alex Smith.
YOUNG: "One of his great qualities is his attention to detail and his earnestness in doing the job. He's really laser-focused, and he has the intellect to do it as well. He's focused and he has the horse power. He's going to have things memorized. I have high confidence in him processing on the field. And so in that earnestness, like any good quality, you can have too much of it. Carson Wentz had the same issue in that he's a perfectionist. And the effort to be perfect almost drove him into the ground. And so I really want to have Trey not feel like everything has to be perfect, because he has that tendency in him. And again, that's part of the solution. That's part of the reason the 49ers took him is because he has that processing power, that earnestness about the job, he wants to have all the data, and that's one of his God-given talents. You don't want to take that away from him, but I've seen it where it's over done, and people don't know when to stop. Mitch Trubisky had a bit of this as well. I don't want to see Trey trying to be perfect, trying to live up to the ghosts of the past or even the ghosts of the present, and trying to do it all at once."
Young never mentioned Smith by name in that quote, but he clearly described Smith, who was one of the most cautious, conservative, earnest, eager-to-please, intelligent quarterbacks of his generation. And he was a very good game manager who protected the football and moved well. A better game manager than Jimmy Garoppolo, who can't move and never has learned to protect the football.
The 49ers hope Lance will develop into a much better quarterback than Smith ever was. But if Smith is Lance's floor, that's not bad. And Lance currently is much more willing to throw the ball downfield than Smith ever was, which bodes well for Lance's future.
If Lance turns out to be a bigger, faster, stronger, better-downfield-passing version of Smith, that would be just fine. But with Young's guidance, maybe Lance can be ever better.
