3 questions Trey Lance must answer during 49ers training camp

Question No. 1: Trey Lance not allowing Jimmy Garoppolo a possibility to start

The fact Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the Niners roster this deep into the offseason has left the door open for pundits to suggest San Francisco keeps him as a backup, evidenced by FanSided’s Stacking the Box podcast’s breakdown in the video below:

Enough has already been said about the financial ramifications of doing this, and perhaps there’s some merit to the argument of having Jimmy G serve as a No. 2 option to Trey Lance this season.

However, that’ll invite the same media circus and quarterback controversy that existed for all of 2021, albeit with the script flipped in Lance’s direction instead of Garoppolo’s. If Lance subsequently has a bad game, there’ll be no shortage of “when will you bench him for Garoppolo?” questions from the media.

Read More: How Trey Lance can silence his critics in 2022

The 49ers would prefer to avoid this, and there’s a simple way for it to happen.

Lance can dominate in training camp, easily going through his projections and making the kind of throws Garoppolo simply can’t make, thereby proving to the rest of the NFL world he’s the right player for the job.

If there’s no questioning Lance is excelling in his first camp as a starter, then there’ll be no reason whatsoever to assume Garoppolo has a chance to beat him out for the QB1 role.

And probably no reason for the Niners to retain the veteran quarterback either.