What Brian Griese Likes About Trey Lance

SANTA CLARA -- When the 49ers hired Brian Griese as their quarterbacks coach, I assumed they hired him specifically to coach Trey Lance.

Here's what Griese said this week about why he took the job.

ME: "What is about the idea of coaching Trey Lance in particular that excites you?"

GRIESE: "First and foremost, I was excited about coaching. It had nothing to do with Trey. I wanted to be a part of a team, and I've known Kyle Shanahan for a long time -- almost 25 years. And so knowing him and his character, his family, that played a big role in it. I wasn't going to just take any job. With respect to Trey in particular, meeting him and getting to know him over the last several months, he is an outstanding young man in so many ways. I'm excited to continue to get to know him both on and off the field. I'm excited that he comes to work every day and he's humble and he wants to get better."

Q: "When you took this job, how much did you look at Trey Lance, or did you come in with a fresh set of eyes? And what have you learned about him on the field?"

GRIESE: "When I took the job, I only had two or three days before I had to make a decision, so I didn't look at Trey at all. I had conversations with Kyle Shanahan about Trey and the kind of person he is. That's what I was most interested in, honestly. I can watch the tape and make my own opinion on what I think he does well. And my opinions are my own. I made that clear when I was doing television work -- my opinions are not going to be based on somebody else's opinion. Since I've been here, I've had the chance to dig in on Trey and talk with him about how he sees himself and talk with Kyle about how he sees him and what the future looks like for him here. I've enjoyed that process immensely. Trey is 22. He's actually only 7 years older than my daughter. He's a lot closer to my kid's age than my age, so I'm learning about him too and how he learns, and Nate (Sudfeld) as well, and now Brock (Purdy). It's a different generation, which has been really fun and exciting for me to understand how they learn, how they process, how they retain information, how they apply that information in real time has been fun, and finding different ways to do that for different players with different learning styles."

Q: "Have you had any communication with Jimmy Garoppolo since you got the job?"

GRIESE: "No, I haven't."

Watch the full interview below: