49ers get first glance at Lance in uneven game

SANTA CLARA — Trey Lance’s pro career began Saturday night with an uneven preseason debut, which included signs of brilliance. The effort left 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wanting more.

“For him to get his first NFL game, I thought it was huge for him. And I know there’s a lot of things that he’s going to already know without seeing us that he’s going to be hard on himself for, and that he can get better,” Shanahan said Sunday on a conference call after reviewing the film from the 19-16 loss to the Chiefs.

Lance, a rookie and No. 3 overall pick, started out well. He threw accurately to receiver Brandon Aiyuk on the move on his first pass attempt on a play that was designed to push the ball deep. Aiyuk dropped the pass, marking the first of Lance’s three incompletions that came via drops by his targets.

His second throw was the 80-yard touchdown to Trent Sherfield — another example of Lance hitting a big play that’s been common on the practice field.

Otherwise, Lance mostly struggled in his first game action as a pro. He completed just 5 of 14 (36 percent) passes, was sacked four times and threw two passes that could have been intercepted. Shanahan blamed Lance directly for one of the sacks: early in the second quarter in the red zone, when the Chiefs threw an all-out blitz at the rookie and had an unblocked defender screaming off the left edge.

Shanahan said Lance should have gotten rid of the ball to a receiver on a hot route instead of taking the sack. The other three sacks Shanahan put on the offensive line.

“You can always get rid of it when someone doesn’t hold up in protection too long,” said Shanahan. “But I think it would have been tough to, especially with some of the down and distances we were in.”

Said Lance after the game: “Obviously (I) left a lot of big plays out there. Wish I would have had taken advantage of the opportunities that were given a few times . ... It was awesome being out there, playing again, have great guys around me obviously. Just need to do a little bit better job getting those guys the ball.”

Sloppy rookie play — Shanahan indicated Lance might have been sloppy with his fundamentals, which were an emphasis before the draft and during his time away from the team between the spring program and the start of training camp.

Lance came into the NFL with some observers concerned about accuracy issues relating to his footwork and a release that can get too long, particularly when he tries to power throws with extra velocity.

“I think he started out good, got a little excited sometimes, which he does,” Shanahan said. “You get a little excited and your technique and stuff you lose, which will be fun to watch with him. Trey’s a guy who’s tough on himself and loves to correct things.

Since we’ve had him he’s been very good at correcting mistakes.”

Lance was also making aggressive throws throughout his 29 snaps in the game. He finished with a 11.4yard average depth of target, according to Pro Football Focus, the most of any 49ers quarterback over the last three seasons in a preseason, regular season or playoff game.

Starter Jimmy Garoppolo, meanwhile, had three completions for 26 yards, while his average depth of target was 1.3 yards down field. He had short completions to Deebo Samuel, fullback Josh Hokit and rookie running back Trey Sermon. Twenty-one of Garoppolo’s 26 passing yards came after the catch.