49ers roster: 4 players primed for breakout 2022 seasons

49ers breakout player No. 1: QB Trey Lance

If no other player on this list so far breaks out as expected, it won’t matter as long as Trey Lance takes that leap towards being a massively promising up-and-coming starter for the Niners in 2022.

Enough has been written about the hopes San Francisco is pinning on the No. 3 overall draft pick from a year ago. And there were glimpses from Lance’s two starts in 2021 to suggest he can live up to the pressure, although there are equally as many reasons to be hesitant about assuming he’ll dominate right away, too.

At any rate, the 49ers put forth their best efforts to surround Lance with as many weapons as possible, ensuring Deebo Samuel didn’t get away via an offseason trade, grabbing rookie wide receiver Danny Gray out of SMU, and adding more beef to the offensive line depth and so on.

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Now, it’s time for Lance to take advantage of it all.

Lance just turned 22 years old and will be installed into an offense where he can enjoy the fruits of creative play-callng by Kyle Shanahan, also knowing he has blue-chip players like Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle at his disposal.

As long as Lance plays up to par, he should wind up having one of those impressive-type seasons that suggests the Niners were right to take that leap of faith a year ago.