Have the 49ers Built a Strong Coaching Staff Around Trey Lance?

The 49ers lost a bunch of coaches this offseason.

It is only natural for elite teams to see coaches leave for better opportunities. It’s an indicator that the team is coveted. But not all departures are coaches leaving for elevated jobs.

Some of the coaches the 49ers saw leave were by choice, such as former quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello. He was replaced by Brian Griese who was spending his time in the broadcast booth calling Monday Night Football for ESPN. Some subtractions and additions to the coaching staff derive from the transition of Jimmy Garoppolo to Trey Lance. The same coaches were not going to be optimal for Lance as they were for Garoppolo given the significantly different skill sets they both possess.

Along with Griese is running backs/assistant coach Anthony Lynn who knows a thing or two about mobile quarterbacks. Lynn oversaw Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert’s rookie year. So the core offensive staff working with Kyle Shanahan to aid Lance is Griese, Lynn, Bobby Slowik (pass game coordinator) and Chris Foerster (run game coordinator).

Have the 49ers built a strong coaching staff around Lance?

Yes they have.

Slowik has been working with Lance since he was drafted and Foerster is obviously going to be just anything that involves the run game. It is the coaches that the 49ers have brought on that intrigue me the most.

Griese to me is the one that stands out. Initially when the hire was made, I had zero clue what to make of it. Ideally you would like a more seasoned coach, someone with a track record of improving quarterbacks. But that role is going to be Shanahan. The role Griese plays is mental. When Shanahan first spoke about Griese at the NFL annual meeting, he talked about how Griese can level with Lance since he’s gone through it as a starting quarterback before.

“I love that Trey (Lance) has someone that who has been through the battle,” said Shanahan. “I could tell him about and what I've seen with guys, but someone who's actually had to go through the ups and downs and that pressure of having a good game, and then throwing a pick that loses the next game, how to deal with the media, how to deal with the NFL season.”

In this sense, Griese is a smooth hire for Lance.

Meanwhile, Lynn was also a great get. Though he is a running backs coach, he is an assistant to Shanahan and will certainly have some degree of input or push towards getting Lance ready. The fact that he’s worked with Taylor and Herbert for so many years makes him a truly experienced coach on helping Lance. You definitely weren’t going to get that from Scangarello.

At the end of the day, Lance goes as far as Shanahan is able to help him. Shanahan is the one who will have the largest imprint on getting Lance progressed — not his coaches. But so far, Shanahan looks like he nailed the first step in building a solid coaching staff around Lance.