The coach that was given two entire years to build his team is giving up on Trey Lance after just 4 career starts.
News broke on Wednesday that the 49ers are naming Sam Darnold as QB2 and "exploring all options" for Trey Lance.
"This isn't a thing that we're giving up on Trey," Shanahan said on KNBR in a pre-recorded interview after the news broke, "You only get so many reps at it and we feel that starting about 10 days ago Sam really separated himself and we've got to keep it real in that way."
Kyle wants to keep it real? Let's keep it real.
You started to give up on Trey Lance the second you brought back Jimmy Garoppolo less than two weeks before the season began in 2022. Sam Darnold was the backup quarterback of this team the second he agreed to a contract in the first moments of the new league year. I said it at the time and it's become clear that's the case. Shanahan immediately spoke glowingly about Sam Darnold at the league meetings, even going so far as to dismiss Darnold's dismal play in 55 career starts.
There were rumors about Trey Lance trade talks at the Combine in February. We also now know that the 49ers have been trying to trade Trey Lance most of this offseason, according to Dianna Russini of ESPN:
That's the reason other national insiders were saying Sam Darnold was going to be QB2 this season as far back as March. That's the reason Darnold's personal QB coach Jordan Palmer said in April (before we knew Brock's health) that Darnold was gonna be the guy that starts in San Francisco. They weren't guessing. They weren't giving their opinion. They knew. That's what I told you back then. Insiders don't just make things up, and they don't just give their opinion (even when they say, "This is just my opinion").
Meanwhile this entire time Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, and the rest of the 49ers organization have been telling us that they still believed in Trey Lance. Lynch went so far as to say the only thing that's changed with Trey was that he got healthy. Kyle Shanahan said he was confident that Lance could have done exactly what Brock did if Trey had stayed healthy.
As we have said many times - do NOT believe what teams tell you. Believe what they actually DO.
What the 49ers have done is given up on Trey Lance after just 262 regular season snaps spread out over two years. The only time Lance started and finished back to back games for the 49ers was the first and second week of this preseason.
Johnny Manziel didn't watch a second of film and still got 8 starts in the NFL. JaMarcus Russell got 25 starts. Sam freaking Darnold got 55 starts and is apparently still good enough to possibly get more. Lance has been nowhere near as bad as any of them yet apparently he's out of chances after just 102 pass attempts.
Instead, San Francisco has pinned their hopes to arguably the most unlikely story in NFL history. The team is entrusting their all-important "Super Bowl window" to a 23 year old QB in his second season coming off a career-saving surgery and a twice washed out draft bust whose career is on life-support.
In fairness, the 49ers could still come out of all of this smelling like a rose if they win the Super Bowl. A sixth Lombardi Trophy and nobody will remember how they completely mishandled their draft capital and the career of a 21 year old kid with all the potential in the world.
Until then, however, they have a lot to answer for - starting with this sad end to a sorry episode.
If you read Shanahan’s reasoning for why he didn’t extend Colin Kaepernick’s contract, it reads exactly like what he’s been talking about with Trey. My problem is then why draft Trey if you aren’t going to redo the entire offensive scheme to fit him? Instead they get CMC and go in a totally different direction.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/kyle-shanahan-explains-why-colin-kaepernick-wasnt-a-good-fit-for-49ers/
Rob, you've gone absolutely delusional on Trey Lance. The NFL is a meritocracy. In watching games -- pre-season or season or training camp -- we see maybe 10 percent of what the coaches see. Clearly, the 49er coaches understood Trey Lance at this point in time more than we do, and it's clear that he's not quite able to establish himself and needs LOTS of development. They also saw Brock Purdy, who instantly established himself and was ready and fit, perfect pace and timing-wise for the Shanahan offense. Coaches tell you everything they see by how they give guys reps and how they make game plays. They want the best player. Also, this has nothing to do with demographics, sa…
He was drafted to the wrong team niners should have built around Jimmy invested in the offensive line , get a true #1 receiver . Invested in our weakest position since the harbaugh era cornerback.
Trey Lance’s future with the 49ers derailed for two reasons: (1) he suffered the injury early in his development year (which would have been recoverable, except….), (2) Brock Purdy writes a Cinderella story as Mr Irrelevant.
Still, I think the 49ers would prefer to keep all 3 quarterbacks given their injury history, but Lance must be asking for a trade or release.
After the constant QB injuries the last several seasons, it’s almost expected they will need to use their QB2 at some point. I would much rather have Lance be the #2 than Darnold. But I’m certain Shanahan thinks Darnold is the safer choice in a Super Bowl or bust year.
Big mistake if it does play out with a trade. We went 4 qb's deep last year and really needed 5. Why get rid of our #3 when he is still on a rookie deal? Love my team but bonehead move.