San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Rookie QB slings 80-yard TD pass for 1st completion
It was a preseason game. And it was against the Chiefs’ second-string defense.
Now, with those qualifiers out of the way: Whoa.
In his much-anticipated NFL debut Saturday, 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance needed two just passes to have one signature play. The throw: An effortless across-the-field toss that traveled more than 45 yards in the air, hit wide receiver Trent Sherfield in stride and resulted in an 80-yard touchdown in the exhibition opener against Kansas City.
It was the highlight of a solid 29-snap encore performance for the No. 3 pick, whose semi-ordinary stat line was partly a function of three blatant drops by wide receivers, although he did throw two near-interceptions. Lance, the North Dakota State product who was playing his second game in 581 days, completed 5 of 14 passes for 125 yards and posted a 93.8 passer rating.
“It was a good first day,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I didn’t want it to go perfect for him. You’d like to have something that he can learn from.”
For his part, Lance said he “left a lot of big plays out there.” Sherfield, however, was effusive in his praise.
“He’s a young phenom,” Sherfield said. “He’s going to be really, really good in this league.”
Lance, 6-foot-4 and 224 pounds, entered after routinely wowing with his mobility and arm strength this summer, but that was just practice. His throw to Sherfield served notice: Game Day Trey can resemble Training Camp Trey.
Asked about the play design, starter Jimmy Garoppolo indicated the deep ball wasn’t necessarily the primary read.
“He’s got a couple of different options, I guess.” Garoppolo said. “I think Trey definitely picked the right one.” A takeaway from Lance’s snaps in the first two quarters: Shanahan was aggressive in his play-calling with his 21-year-old rookie, who was also looking to make big plays.
After Garoppolo played the first series, finishing the drive with an 11-yard checkdown to running back Trey Sermon on third-and-15, Lance’s first NFL snap wasn’t a handoff. Instead, he rolled left and looked deep before drifting back to his right and delivering an on-themove, on-the-money strike that wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk dropped.
On Lance’s fourth drive, in the second quarter, the 49ers began at their own 1-yard line. Again, Lance didn’t start the drive by handing off. Rather, he dropped back in the end zone and found tight end Charlie Woerner for a 34-yard gain.
“I do have confidence in him,” Shanahan said. “But there’s not much to learn from running on the one-yard line. So I’d rather start it off a harder way. And whether it’s good or bad at least it’s experience. For him to make a big play like that — (Woerner) wasn’t the first read. The fullback in the flat is. He took a hitch up and hit Charlie, which was nice.”
On his touchdown to Sherfield, Lance, rolling left, had Aiyuk open on a shallow crossing route for an easy, first-down completion. However, he planted and delivered to Sherfield, who has snuck several yards behind defensive backs Mike Hughes and Devon Key.
In addition to Aiyuk’s drop, wide receiver River Cracraft dropped a short pass from Lance and wideout Richie James had a sideline strike clang off his hands. However, Lance, who was dropped for four sacks, had his own blemishes. He recovered his own fumble after one sack and attempted to force fastballs that cornerbacks DeAndre Baker and Rashad Fenton nearly intercepted on consecutive drives late in the second quarter. The result of Lance’s eight drives: a touchdown, a field goal and six punts.
Lance’s debut was perhaps a slightly less impressive microcosm of his training camp. Lance has spent the summer flashing tantalizing potential, mixed in with occasional rookie moments while he’s often been running for his life behind the second-string offensive line. Three of his four sacks came on his last six drives, when he was playing with the backup front five. “There was some good and some bad,” Shanahan said. “By no means was it perfect.”
Garoppolo completed 3 of 3 passes for 26 yards in his seven-snap opening series. He had a 9-yard, first-down completion negated by an offensive pass interference penalty by tight end Charlie Woerner.