The No. 1 Concern About Trey Lance
Trey Lance is the most gifted quarterback I've seen come out of college in my lifetime.
He's a faster Andrew Luck, meaning there's nothing Lance can't do well. So if he fails to become a superstar, he won't fail because of his mobility, his arm strength, his accuracy, his intelligence, his work ethic, his leadership or even his spiral. Those aspects of his game should not be concerns.
The No. 1 concern about Lance is his durability, as was the case with Luck.
Luck didn't play into his 30s because he took too many hits and sustained too many injuries. The Colts were partly at fault because they didn't protect him well, but Luck also was partly at fault because he liked to scramble and take unnecessary hits.
Lance is similar and in a similar situation. The 49ers' offensive line isn't bad -- they have Trent Williams, the best left tackle in the game -- but the rest of the O-line is filled with unproven-to-average run-blocking specialists who struggle in pass protection.
The 49ers will run the ball a ton, which will take some of the pressure off Lance, but he also will be a major part of their run game. At times, the 49ers will use him like a running back -- they certainly did when he was rookie. This will lead to more hits.
And then there's the fact that Lance got injured twice last season -- once during the preseason and once during his first career start. He lacks experience and might not know how to protect himself in the NFL for a full season. He certainly doesn't slide and, at times, he seeks out contact, which he shouldn't do.
I don't mean to be negative. Barring injury, Lance should be the best quarterback the 49ers have had since Steve Young.
It's the barring-injury part that concerns me.
