49ers roster: Why Trey Lance silences his critics as a first-year starter
By Peter Panacy
What Trey Lance must overcome with 49ers in 2022
Typically, on Niner Noise’s player-by-player breakdowns, we look at why said player improves against why he might regress, or something similar.
Trey Lance doesn’t exactly have room to regress, given he’s hardly played, and we need to keep this spun positively to fit our (obviously biased) narrative.
So, instead of just saying “here’s why Lance struggles,” let’s reshift and note those challenges he’ll have to overcome this season.
Trey Lance is still massively inexperienced
The Chiefs arguably didn’t need to sit Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith in 2017, but they did. The Niners arguably needed to sit Lance behind Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021.
Here’s a number for you: Lance has attempted just 389 pass attempts combined between his collegiate days at North Dakota State and with San Francisco.
Mahomes attempted 580 passes his first year as a starter alone.
It’s nothing new to the discussion, but Lance’s lone year as a full-time starter in college didn’t exactly afford him the practical on-field experience most high-level prospective quarterbacks receive heading into the NFL Draft.
| Passing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2018 | North Dakota State | MVC | FR | QB | 2 | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 12 | 12.0 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 200.8 |
| 2019 | North Dakota State | MVC | SO | QB | 16 | 192 | 287 | 66.9 | 2786 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 28 | 0 | 180.6 |
| 2020 | North Dakota State | MVC | JR | QB | 1 | 15 | 30 | 50.0 | 149 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 2 | 1 | 107.1 |
| Career | North Dakota State | 208 | 318 | 65.4 | 2947 | 9.3 | 11.0 | 30 | 1 | 173.8 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference
Generated 6/28/2022.
A cause for concern? Absolutely. But how does one overcome inexperience?
By gaining experience.
This will help in terms of better recognizing defensive coverages and trends, and it’ll also assist the quarterback in developing chemistry with his receiving options, as having primarily worked with the second-string unit in 2021 didn’t exactly afford him the opportunity to achieve this.
There’ll surely be some proverbial bumps and bruises along the way (even Mahomes had those), but the sign to look for here will be progress.
Trey Lance’s biggest concern: 49ers’ shaky offensive line
One doesn’t need to be a high-level football analyst to realize a bad offensive line can turn even a good quarterback into a sub-par one.
And the 49ers can’t exactly feel overly comfortable with those tasked with protecting Lance this season.
The Niners lost Pro Bowl left guard Laken Tomlinson to free agency this offseason, then watched another Pro Bowler, center Alex Mack, retire just a few months later. These two key departures are effectively forcing San Francisco to insert two first-time starters into the O-line equation, presumed left guard Aaron Banks, who saw just five offensive snaps during his rookie 2021 season, and perennial journeyman backup Jake Brendel at center.
Not wholly comforting.
One of Lance’s notable problem points from his rookie season was reacting to the pass rush. While there was noticeable improvement between his first start, Week 5, against his second start in Week 17, it’s still a major work in progress.
With the 49ers O-line experiencing notable downgrades from last year, it’s certainly reasonable to expect Lance to have some serious challenges adjusting under center and under pressure.