San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
49ers’ Lance is backup QB — for now
Sensational play against Raiders could alter dynamic
Based on 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s unsubtle hints and the QB rotation in practice, the situation for the season opener in Detroit on Sept. 12 seems settled. Jimmy Garoppolo will start and rookie Trey Lance will also play.
Could Lance change that if he rips through the Raiders in the 49ers’ preseason finale Sunday at Levi’s Stadium? That seems unlikely, but perceptions can change wildly.
Just consider the 49ers’ preseason win over the Chargers last Sunday. The question many were asking after Lance began with three ugly drives: Why didn’t the 49ers draft
Mac Jones? The question many were posing after Lance rebounded spectacularly: Could the 49ers get a second-round pick for Garoppolo?
Shanahan sounds comfortable about easing Lance into action, while leaving open the possibility he could start, eventually, as a rookie. After open
ing with two inconsistent preseason games, Lance is unlikely to leapfrog Garoppolo with a sensational effort Sunday. However, such a performance could suggest Garoppolo will be a second-stringer by the end of September.
Jalen Hurd: Hurd has had one good moment in the NFL. And Sunday would be an opportune time for him to enjoy his second.
The 49ers’ high-potential, oft-injured wide receiver could lock up a spot on the 53-man roster with a decent performance against the Raiders. In truth, it’s possible Hurd, who was limited throughout training camp, will survive final cuts Tuesday if he can end the game without having a setback with his surgically repaired knee. Hurd practiced for three straights days this past week after he was sidelined for more than a week with knee tendinitis.
The 49ers will likely keep six wide receivers. And there’s no question Hurd, a 2019 third-round pick, is among their six most talented wideouts. But Shanahan referenced Hurd’s injury history when asked if his potential meant he was assured of making the roster.
“You have to make sure guys are healthy enough to play through the year,” Shanahan said, “that they don’t just get to Week 1 and only last a quarterand-a-half.”
Hurd’s torn ACL in 2020 was preceded by a back injury that sidelined him for his rookie season.
And that back issue was preceded by a knee surgery from which he was rehabbing when he was drafted.
Hurd’s lone NFL highlight came in the 2019 preseason opener when he had two touchdown catches in his NFL debut. That performance fueled optimism about what kind of weapon Hurd could be in Shanahan’s offense. Two years later, however, Hurd has played zero regular-season snaps in the NFL.
The 49ers retain patience because of Hurd’s unique skill set. He was a running back at Tennessee who rushed for 1,285 yards as a sophomore in 2015. In 2018, after transitioning to wide receiver and transferring to Baylor, he had 69 catches for 946 yards and was the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
Cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, a rookie fifth-round pick, had a sluggish start to camp but has been surging recently.
Running back Trey Sermon is an excellent pass-catcher and turned heads with a 331-yard performance last season.
“I mean, we’re holding on,” general manager John Lynch said on KNBR on Friday morning. “We’ve had two really hard practices (this week). And he’s done a great job in them. And it would be a really good thing for our team if he could be out there. So we’re pulling for him. … And hopefully he’s there, because he makes us a better team if he is.”
CB Deommodore Lenoir: In a minor upset, the rookie fifthround pick is probably ahead of rookie third-round pick Ambry Thomas on the cornerback depth chart.
Both rookies had a sluggish start to training camp, but Lenoir has been surging recently. In two preseason games, Lenoir has been targeted with six passes, hasn’t allowed a catch and has an interception.
Opposing quarterbacks’ passer rating when targeting Lenoir? A nifty 0.0.
It should be noted Lenoir’s pick was gift-wrapped: It came via a drop on a throw from
Chiefs backup Chad Henne. And his best play against the Chargers — breaking up a pass — came on a throw from Chargers backup Easton Stick. Still, Lenoir has acquitted himself well in games and is assuming a larger role in practice. This week, after the 49ers released cornerback B.W. Webb, Lenoir began taking snaps at nickel cornerback with the secondstring defense, suggesting he will serve as K’Waun Williams’ backup at that spot.
Lenoir could start Sunday with Jason Verrett unlikely to play because of what Shanahan indicated was a mild case of plantar fasciitis. However, Lenoir still won’t be tested by a front-line QB: Third-stringer Nathan Peterman is expected to play the entire game for Las Vegas.
RB Trey Sermon: The 49ers, who have been led in rushing for three straight seasons by an undrafted running back, have invested just two draft picks on the position under the current regime. Before Sermon, a third-round pick, the
Wide receiver Jalen Hurd could lock up a spot on the 53-man roster with a decent performance against the Raiders.
Jaquiski Tartt will likely start at strong safety against the Lions in Week 1 if he can prove he’s overcome his toe injury.
49ers drafted fourth-round flameout Joe Williams in 2017.
The 49ers were smitten with Sermon. They traded two fourth-round picks to move up 29 spots to select him. Sermon transferred from Oklahoma to Ohio State for his final season to get more playing time and ran a pedestrian 40-yard dash (4.59 seconds) at his pro day. However, Sermon is an excellent pass-catcher and turned heads with his 331-yard rushing performance against Northwestern in last season’s Big Ten title game.
Perhaps he will show Sunday why the 49ers were so intrigued. Sermon rushed for a 26 yards on nine carries and lost a fumble in the preseason opener before sitting out against the Chargers last week with a minor ankle injury.
SS Jaquiski Tartt: It was a shocker when Tartt returned to practice Wednesday, considering what Shanahan said about his troublesome turf-toe injury on Aug. 10: “I know he’s not where he wants to be or where we want him to be. It’s
going to take some time.”
Fifteen days later, however, Tartt was lining up for a handful of snaps with the secondteam defense and delivered two high-impact thud “tackles” in his return.
Tartt will likely start at strong safety against the Lions in Week 1 if he can prove he has overcome his toe injury, which required offseason surgery after he initially was hurt in November. The 49ers have been encouraged by the performance of rookie fifth-round pick Talanoa Hufanga, who was emerging as a strong candidate to start before Tartt’s return. Their other option is Tavon Wilson, 31, a nine-year veteran with 45 career starts. It’s not known how much Tartt will play Sunday. But the 49ers would presumably like to see him test his toe with more than a handful of snaps in game conditions before he reclaims his starting spot.