Trey Lance will play ‘couple drives’ for 49ers vs. Texans

Head coach Kyle Shanahan explained that quarterback Trey Lance is going to get a couple of drives to call his own when the 49ers play the Houston Texans.

Trey Lance hasn’t exactly had a lot of opportunities to show how much he’s grown since his rookie season so far for the San Francisco 49ers. And instead of waiting another couple of weeks before the team’s regular season opener against the Chicago Bears, head coach Kyle Shanahan is going to give him some time in the team’s final preseason game on Thursday night.

Most teams hold back their best players from playing in the final exhibition of the preseason schedule in order to avoid any injury. It’s often a showcase for fringe roster players in the hopes of making an impact enough to stay on the active roster—or at least earn a practice squad spot. However, Shanahan said in advance that he would have several players skip the second preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings for this reason—Lance included.

Given how little he’s played, Lance could use the work. So far in the preseason, Lance has only played 17 and that was only two series. In that game, Lance looked sharp in limited action, completing 4 of 5 passes for 92 yards and 1 touchdown. He also had a single scramble for 7 yards on the ground.

In a recent interview with Murph & Mac on KNBR, Shanahan stated that Lance would get a “couple of drives” on Thursday against the Texans to start the game for the sake of offensive continuity.

"“After this we have 17 days I believe till they play again. That’s such a long time that I want them to go out there and just get in there a little bit, but I’m trying to get them out there pretty fast.”"

The 49ers visit the Houston Texans on Thursday, August 25 with kickoff set for 8:15 p.m. ET.