What now for Trey Lance and the 49ERS?
Trey Lance sent social media and the 49ers Faithful into a spin with an enticing debut (preseason) performance against Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs in Santa Clara.
Lance gave 49ers their first look since being drafted by Kyle Shanahan with Pick 2 in the 2021 NFL Draft, going 5-for-14, with 128 Passing Yards, 1 TD and a 93.7 QB Rating.
What really sent the NFL world into overdrive though was Lance’s 80-yard touchdown bomb to Trent Sherfield, his first completion of the ballgame.
The thought on everyone’s minds is ‘When will Lance get more first-team reps?’ As for the answer, we’ll leave it to coach.
“I don’t know,” Shanahan told San Francisco reporters . “I haven’t really defined that for myself either. Just when I think it feels right, when he seems ready, when I think the team seems ready.
“I mean, we’ll continue to mix him in there. But I don’t plan on just doing that completely. But Trey, what he showed in that game is, you know, I wish I could have left them there longer. I know he enjoys playing and he’s only been able to play one game in over a year, but I think it was good for him to get out.
“I think he started out good, got a little excited sometimes which he does. And you get a little excited, some of your technique and stuff you lose which will be fun to watch with him. Trey’s a guy who’s tough on himself and loves to correct things and since we’ve had him he’s been very good at correcting mistakes.”
The most glaring error, according to the Niners head coach, occurred when Lance failed to throw the ball away and was resultantly sacked. It was one of four occasions where Lance was sacked by the Chiefs defense.
“I think the worst one was the one down in the red zone,” Shanahan said. “They did an all-out blitz and we were in an empty formation and he’s got to get rid of that to his hot throws. So that was the main one that was on him.
“On the other ones, you can always get rid of it when someone doesn’t hold up in protection too long, but I think it would have been tough to, especially some of the down and distance we were in. But there was one that he definitely needed to get rid of just because of the blitz that they brought.”
Lance has brought an electricity to the Niners, reminiscent of the excitement during their Super Bowl season of 2019. Whether he’s capable of delivering a similar outcome time will tell.
Though I can think of one man who is…