49ers rotate Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance on first drive vs. Raiders

The 49ers went with a unique rotation against the Raiders in preseason Week 3, regularly putting in both Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan went with an unorthodox approach in the team’s opening drive against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders in both teams’ 2021 preseason finale at Levi’s Stadium.

Over the Niners’ first two preseason bouts, Shanahan let veteran Jimmy Garoppolo start at quarterback, giving way to the rookie, Trey Lance, after Jimmy G completed a series.

Against the Raiders, though, Shanahan elected to go with a rotation of quarterbacks.

Garoppolo got the first snap, yes, and saw two such plays before giving way to Lance, who subsequently took one snap before Shanahan put Garoppolo back in.

And Shanahan regularly rotated his quarterbacks over San Francisco’s opening drive.

49ers first-drive snaps

• Jimmy Garoppolo: 5
• Trey Lance: 5

It seems Shanahan wanted to give his rookie at least a handful of snaps with the 49ers’ first-team offensive line, including left tackle Trent Williams and center Alex Mack, who hadn’t played in the Niners’ first two preseason games.

This way, should Lance somehow end up winning the starting job during the regular season, he’d have a bit more rapport in that regard.

Jimmy Garoppolo, not Trey Lance rushes in 49ers’ first touchdown

If you had to guess which quarterback would rush in for San Francisco’s first touchdown, you’d probably guess it would be the fast and elusive Lance.

Not Garoppolo.

But facing a 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Garoppolo ran it in on the right by diving into the end zone and giving the 49ers a 7-0 lead after their opening drive:

Garoppolo, now the Niners’ biggest rushing threat at quarterback?

Well, not quite. But at least it opened up the door for some fun discussion.

San Francisco started its second drive after forcing a couple of Raiders’ 3-and-outs with Garoppolo, then switching back to Lance again in a similar fashion.

Interestingly enough, Lance had his own 1-yard rushing touchdown to cap off the 49ers’ second offensive drive.