A legend weighs in
Drew Brees dissects 49ers’ quarterback dynamic between Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance
Drew Brees spoke with Jimmy Garoppolo for 15 minutes after 49ers practice Friday before it was another quarterback’s turn: rookie Trey Lance. “A good dude to learn from,” Lance said with a smile after his one-on-one with Brees on the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice field.
Breesretiredlastseasonfromarecord-setting career with the New Orleans Saints, where he wentafterhisthen-SanDiegoChargers’tenure wasshortedbythearrivalofPhilipRivers,afirstrounddraftpickwhocameinatradefortoppick Eli Manning.
Brees, obviously, can relate to what Garoppoloisfacing—andwhatLancecanaccomplish.
Said Brees: “It’s funny, because go back to 2004, when I was with the Chargers going into my fourth year, we struggled in ‘03 and I was basically told, ‘Hey, we’re going to draft somebody, we’re going to bring somebody in to try to take your job.’ They drafted Eli, then that whole debacle led to Philip.
“What I chuckle about is everybody tries to make that an adversarial dynamic, when really it’snot.Because,forPhilipandI,webothrecognizedthesituation.Wealsorecognizedthatthe competition was going to bring out the best in us.”
That, indeed, appears how Garoppolo and Lance are approaching their coexistence. They get along from all accounts, complement each other and, essentially, have spent all camp mixing in flashy plays with others that aren’t so great.
Lance, in Friday’s joint practice with the Chargers,tookhismostextensivefirst-teamreps sincebeingdraftedNo.3overall.Itwasaneightsnapcameobehindthefirst-stringoffensiveline, althoughlefttackleTrentWilliamswasoutwith akneeissue.Lancecompleted3-of-3passes,ran twice, got sacked once and handed off twice.
Once the practice ended abruptly after 90 minutes, with Lance completing a touchdown passtoJaMycalHasty,Garoppolosoonmingled withBrees,andtightendGeorgeKittlejoinedon the conversation.
Once they were done, Lance met up with Brees, who’ll be at Sunday’s preseason game as apracticeruncallinggamesforNBCSports;his new gig entails covering Notre Dame football and being an in-studio analyst on Sunday Night Football.
As for that 2004 dynamic as the veteran vs. therookie,Breesadded:“Wehadourtofocuson our own development to be the best players we could be. We also knew every rep counted and wehadtomaximizeeveryopportunity,because we were fighting for the same position.
“Butit’snotunlikeanyotherbattlethatexists at every other position on the field. It’s just the most high profile. It doesn’t mean you can’t support each other or that you’re not there to get the best out of each other.”