As OTAs start getting closer to the 49ers, too The assumed role of Trey Lance As San Francisco’s starting quarterback.
But is he ready?
That question has been at the forefront of conversations around the second-year signal caller and his preparation for the top of the depth chart, and now three-time Super Bowl champion Steve Young is weighing.
“The word ‘ready’ just loaded up. It’s not right,” the former 49ers quarterback said Monday on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “He played two games, so, ‘Oh, he’s not ready’ … that doesn’t mean anything because it’s like, of course, who’s ready? You have to go play and prove that.
“One of the things that everyone has to understand about Trey is that, in general, he hasn’t played a lot of football.”
Young made it clear that based on his circumstances, it’s almost impossible to know how “ready” Lance is Limited Action During the 2021 NFL Seasonhe started two games, appeared in six, and had a 97.3 passer rating.
Even after his first season at the pro level, Lance had little chance of making an impact in North Dakota, playing only one full season due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being selected third overall by the 49ers bit. 2021 NFL Draft.
“You figured out a lot of things in college over the years, just tagging catchers and learning what your arms can do… It’s just something you figured out through the reps and did over and over,” Young told Ai Sen. “When they say he’s not ready, it’s because he doesn’t have a lot of work on the court. They see things on the court — amazing talent, amazing arms, everything — but the quarterback There’s more, so when someone says he’s not ready, what else can you say? Because he’s not.”
Lance played a total of 19 games during his time at North Dakota, and the Bison went 19-0 in the games he played.
Two of those games were in 2018 and the other was in 2020, but sandwiched between those years was the 2019 season, when Reims’ star power exploded for 3,000 passing yards with a completion rate of about 66 percent, And not a single interception.
“I think it’s more important, is he able to identify the line on the spot, who’s going through the line, who’s in the open, expected to throw, to get the ball out?” Young continued. “He seems to have this. The thing you’re ready to worry about the most…is his sense of accuracy, that feeling, ‘I know my brain knows where to take the ball, but my arms don’t necessarily cooperate. “This is the biggest [thing] For me, Rich, when we get into things like Trey Lance. “
Lance’s 2019 accuracy rate didn’t quite carry over to the limited moves he saw in his first NFL season, throwing five touchdowns while completing 58 percent of his two interceptions.
related: What advice would 49ers legend Young give to Lance?
“That’s something I really want to focus on this summer, does he have a connection in his arm when he goes into the fall game? I do believe he has the ability to find openers,” Young said. “The processing power you worry about, he has. But does his arm work? You can’t do that. You can work on the edge of it. You either have that or you don’t have that, and that’s what I want to see in the fall the first thing.”
Young isn’t the first legendary 49ers quarterback to offer feedback About Jimmy Garoppolo’s successorwhile his Monday comments appear to be in line with Joe Montana’s February assessment Lance wasn’t ready to get to work.
After the analysis he provided to Eisen, Young certainly didn’t think the word “ready” could be used properly to describe Lance’s current abilities — for better or worse.
However, the 49ers Faithful will soon have more to do when evaluating their future quarterback, because the future is now.
