Kyle Shanahan: Trey Lance ‘won’t make or break’ season

Kyle Shanahan: Trey Lance ‘won’t make or break’ season

One of the biggest storylines entering the 2022 NFL season — especially in the realm of the NFC West — is the emergence of San Francisco 49ers second-year quarterback Trey Lance.

Lance has all but secured the starting nod over Jimmy Garoppolo — who could get cut (to save the team north of $24 million) when the rosters are trimmed to 53 players, unless a team needing a starting quarterback (i.e. NFC West rival Seattle, Cleveland) trades for him — for Week 1 against Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears.

Lance, 22, has attempted just 389 passes since graduating high school, including just 71 last year (six games, two starts) at a 57.7 percent clip for 603 yards and a 5:7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Though head coach Kyle Shanahan, just like he did for Garoppolo, trusts Lance to operate his complicated offensive scheme, which has placed top-7 leaguewide in offensive DVOA in two of the last three seasons.

“I believe in him as a man, as a person,” Shanahan told NBC Sports’ Peter King in an interview for his weekly ‘Football Morning in America’ Monday column. “I believe in his talent. I don’t think he is going to make or break our season, just like in 2019 and last year, I didn’t think Jimmy was going to make or break our season.”

Full quotes here.

Lance played two drives against the Green Bay Packers in their inaugural preseason game Friday. The signal caller looked more comfortable and decisive in the limited sample than he did in his six-game stint a year ago. He completed four of his five attempts for 92 yards — including a 76-yard touchdown heave to Danny Gray to cap off his evening.

San Francisco, who finished 10-7 in 2021 and lost the NFC Championship game to in-division rival Los Angeles Rams, are playing in perhaps the toughest division in the NFC. Though with their marquee running game, George Kittle, an extended-Deebo Samuel, and dominant pash rush paired with an elite secondary could vault the 49ers into the playoffs for the third time in four seasons.

But it all could fall on the shoulders of their up-and-coming quarterback. And (at least some of) that pressure falls on Shanahan, who’s entering his sixth year as the Niners’ headman and has a good history at generating efficient offenses.

“It’s up to me to teach these guys that the people who are deciding whether you make the team or people around the league who are deciding if you don’t make it here, whether they could sign you to their active roster, how those people see the play,” Shanahan added. “Stats don’t dictate success. Doing it the right way dictates success.”

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