There isn’t a QB competition in San Francisco. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said there is no open competition for the starting gig, as veteran Jimmy Garoppolo is the definitive starter while rookie Trey Lance will serve as the backup (via NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo via Twitter).
“Trey’s had seven practices with us, and I haven’t seen him in 40 days, so I’m not thinking about that right now,” Shanahan said (via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area). “There’s no open competition right now in terms of equal reps with the same group…Jimmy is coming in as the one, and Trey is coming in as the two.”
This isn’t the first time the organization has expressed this sentiment. In fact, we heard earlier this year that the team was willing to roll with Garoppolo for the next two years before inevitably turning to Lance, the No. 3 pick in this year’s draft. To the 49ers credit, they seem to be sticking to their story, but it remains to be seen if they’ll stick with the game plan.
Few first-round quarterbacks since the Packers’ Brett Favre-to-Aaron Rodgers transition have failed to take over starting jobs as rookies, let alone second-year passers. In every non-Rodgers case, a first-round pick having failed to seize the job by Year 2 signaled a bust. Garoppolo sat for three-plus seasons behind Tom Brady, but the Patriots selected him in the 2014 second round. Garoppolo piloted the 49ers to Super Bowl LIV, throwing 27 touchdown passes in 2019, but has been unreliable from a health standpoint since coming to San Francisco. This led to the team trading up for Lance.
Meanwhile, Lance has yet to ink his rookie contract, but GM John Lynch believes a deal will be completed sooner than later.
“We’ve never had a holdout but it always seems to go down to the wire,” Lynch said (via Garafolo on Twitter). “It’s important he is here.”
Til Jimmy gets coughed on by his own right guard
Obviously they dont think that highly of Jimmy G seeing as they drafted a QB and were in the mix for Stafford and Rodgers. It’s clear there was never trust in Garapollo from Shanahan so why continue this? Just let Lance get out there and learn the position and live with what you get. I have heard a lot comparing this situation to Alex Smith and Pat Mahomes but who knows maybe KC cost themselves by not putting Mahomes in earlier.
If Jimmy can stay healthy he is pretty good. Lance barely played much college football and Shanahan has a complex system. I think they need to stick with Jimmy until he either gets hurt or plays himself out of the starting job. Lance has time to develop.
They spent a lot of draft capital on Lance to backup Jimmy because of injury and they don’t think he’s ready? Hope Jimmy stays healthy long enough for him to develop. Wonder what they’ll do if Jimmy does stay healthy and plays as well or even better than he has. Do you keep them both? They’d probably wish they’d kept those picks and spent them on players that could help them win now if that’s the case. They won’t get that kind of return back if Lance doesn’t play enough in the next two years. I like Lance just would have thought the 49ers would have signed a solid veteran backup in case of injury and spent this year and next first rounders on guys that could come in and help this team win now
That’s really the key here, and that is Jimmy’s health.
It wasn’t that Kyle doesn’t trust Jimmy’s abilities, it is that he can’t trust him to stay healthy, and he got tired of trotting out Mullens and Beathard.
He wanted a talented piece of clay he could have the time to mold into his QB, and thats exactly what they have in Lance.
In Jimmy, they have a QB they can win with now, one that knows the system, and one that has put on some significant weight and muscle in order to better stay healthy..
If Jimmy is healthy, he will be the QB this season, it is really plain and simple.
Jimmy is good, maybe not great, but he also from what I’ve seen is not as perfect a fit for Shanahan as Shanahan thought he’d be. Garappolo is a bit too much of a gunslinger than Shanahan wants. His approach is most notable in the preseason, where you can see him force passes to receivers to gauge their and his own ability to force tough catches. He would like to take more risks with the ball than Shanahan would, and not as calculated as Shanahan would like.
Also, Shanahan seems to only prefer a certain style of receiver, one that can catch and run and typically is on the smaller side (Jalen Hurd, a former running back, is much larger but obviously has a runners’ skill set). Garappolo had smaller receivers in college as well, but he wants them to make tougher catches than Shanahan would prefer, which also involves more improvisation than Shanahan would like. The offense wouldn’t be as disciplined. I think it’s worked pretty well overall, but Garappolo I think would like to have a little bit more backyard wiggle room to make his own plays (he also was a more mobile QB in the past, which the 9ers have not used as extensively, possibly in part due to his injuries).
Lance has great potential, but he didn’t even play much in college. Shanahan will get to adjust his tendencies completely without even a set of college experience to work against. Of course, this also means a lack of experience and the Niners will have to trust that Shanahan knows what he’s doing. But the admittedly difficult task of tempering Lance could give Shanahan his own QB with more athleticism than what he has now, because Lance is extremely athletic. In my personal opinion, I don’t know if this gamble will pay off, but I think they did it partially due to Jimmy’s health and mostly because they think that they’re tired of searching for the right guy to fit into Shanahan’s system.
Lol stop it with that bc KYLE don’t even use that system for Jimmy.. Jimmy isn’t that guy bc if he was we would see more of Kyle system n play..
Man, trading UP in the draft for a guy that’s gonna sit on your bench for at least a year instead of getting an impact player when you’re literally only one or so away from a Super Bowl? What ‘idiots’ the ‘Niners are for doing such a dumb thing, huh?
Because there’s a 0 percent chance Jimmy plays 17 regular season games
The 9ers at least have picked starters at other positions in that time…including wide receivers. Plural.
This is a no-brainer for the 49ers. Trey Lance was always thought of as somewhat of a project – coming from a small school, playing almost no football in 2018 and 2020, etc., etc. It would be almost criminal if they put him on the field at this point.
Maybe so, but no player taken that high should ever be considered a project and should certainly be plug & play ASAP.
I do wish him well but can’t help to think he’ll be a huge bust. I don’t question his level of competition that much, then again the offense he ran didn’t require him to show and improve skills he’ll now need. But I do highly question his amount of competition and lack of live reps. Coming out of high school no FBS school thought he could see the field as a QB within 5 years. He went FCS, sat the pines for a year, had 1 incredible season and then shut it down. Now they invested so much into getting him that high he should be an immediate starter and he isn’t.
Some of you are looking way too in to this. Competition is a good thing, handing the reigns to a guy who played one season of college football at North Dakota without earning it would be dumb. Jimmy isn’t gonna stay healthy for 17 games anyways. And just because Jimmy starts the season as the starter, doesn’t mean he’ll end the season as one. And there’s a 0% chance he’s on the roster next year, anyone who believes that is incredibly dumb.