Lance looks like a starter
Plus three other observations from Week 1 of 49ers training camp
At the beginning of 49ers training camp, head coach Kyle Shanahan declared that there was no competition for the starting quarterback job. Jimmy Garoppolo was the starter, Trey Lance was his backup. No further questions.
A week in, and that might still be the case.
But perhaps there should be a conversation about it.
Yes, the reports were true: Garoppolo looked fantastic in the early days of camp.
But then, Saturday, he looked pedestrian, throwing two interceptions, including a 40-yard-plus deep ball that had the same balance as a frat pledge at the start-ofschool kegger, ending up a good five yards short of Deebo Samuel near the goal-line.
It seems as if Garoppolo is not a new quarterback, after all.
Meanwhile, while Garoppolo looked like same-old-jimmy, Lance looked like the future on Saturday. Not only was he throwing laser beams all over the field, per usual, but he started tucking the ball and running, too. There were even a few read-option plays that Shanahan dusted out of his old Washington playbook on Saturday.
“We ran three or four read zones today, which is three or four more than my career here — it’s exciting,” Mike Mcglinchey said after practice.
Lance looked great to start training camp, but he took his game to a new level to cap off the week.
If the Niners were to make a quarterback decision on pure talent, there would be no competition — Lance would be the man.
And perhaps it comes down to that in a month.
But if Garoppolo can rediscover that crispness he started camp with, he’s more than capable of helming a successful NFL offense.
Eventually, Lance will be the guy in Santa Clara. Just like in rookie minicamp, the No. 3 overall pick looks like an ideal modern-day quarterback. There should never have been a doubt, but all skepticism needs to be erased after these last few practices.
And while that might create more scuttlebutt than Shanahan wanted around the Niners heading into this season, I think that should be viewed as great news for the team.
Because when Shanahan decides that Lance is ready to start — whether that is Week 1 of this season, Week 1 of 2022, or somewhere in between— there will not be a single player or coach who will question if that’s the right decision. Lance is undeniable.
And confirming that the Niners didn’t trade away three first-round picks in vain is an excellent start to training camp, no?
• Into the more granular stuff:
A big question going into camp was, “who is the No. 3 receiver?” There’s no question now that it’s Mohammed Sanu.
The veteran wideout, who played for San Francisco and Detroit last year, catching 17 passes, looks years younger than the last time we saw him in Santa Clara — a fact that took a couple of days to fully grasp. (There were more than a few “who was that?” comments — the answer
was always Sanu.)
The emergence (reemergence) of Sanu has been a significant development for the Niners. Yes, the veteran separated himself from a large pack of players looking for that No. 3 receiver job, but truth be told, no one is really pushing him.
I haven’t noted anything Richie James has done. The same thing with Kevin White. Trent Sherfield and River Cracraft have looked fine, but that’s about all I can say. Travis Benjamin, to put it nicely, has not had a great week.
Add in the absences of Jalen Hurd, who has missed the last two practices, and Jauan Jennings
(Covid protocol), and Sanu has been a godsend in these oh-so-early days — though I’m sure Shanahan would prefer the veteran to be pushed a bit.
• Raheem Mostert has been one of the better running backs in the NFL the last two seasons, but the 49ers are clearly ready to move on from him after this campaign, as they drafted not one but two running backs this past spring.
But Mostert doesn’t seem at all ready to relinquish his starting job just yet. We’re yet to see full contact — the Niners have not put on shoulder pads in camp — but the one-cut-and-go back
has looked tremendous as a pass-catcher in 1-on-1, 7-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills.
It’s no secret that Shanahan would love to have a running back who can catch the ball out of the backfield on all three downs, but Mostert has not been that guy the last two seasons, catching 36 passes in his career. There’s a long way to go in camp yet — this might just be an early-camp aberration, a byproduct of basic zone defenses — but if he has, that’s just another possible wrinkle in a 49ers offense that could be far more dynamic than in years past. (And it was a pretty dynamic offense.)