Trey Lance appears to be doing all the right things this offseason. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has gushed about his progress this year compared to last year. Lance’s private quarterbacks coach, Jeff Christensen, described to the Athletic the substantial leaps he took while training with Patrick Mahomes this offseason. That progress is notable for Lance, who hasn’t gotten many chances to develop since coming into the NFL as a player who needed plenty of development.
Offseason work is just one piece of the equation. The more difficult part will be translating that work into live reps.
If Lance is going to make a real run at the starting QB job, which will belong to Brock Purdy once he’s recovered from offseason elbow surgery, showing big improvements in offseason training and OTAs isn’t going to be enough. It’ll certainly matter, and progress in those settings is far better than failure in them, but the coaching staff will quickly forget about it if there’s a reversion when the speed and intensity of the drills are ratcheted up.
However, things get very interesting if Lance can turn his offseason leap into a more effective version of himself in training camp.
Last year much of the talk surrounding the first-time starting QB was how much he struggled in camp. His accuracy was an issue and his decision-making was up-and-down according to reporters on site for the sessions. If those things are cleaned up when facing a defense, we could see him cut into what Purdy’s grip is on the starting job.
While the 49ers had success with Purdy last season, they also spent three first-round picks to acquire Lance in the 2021 draft. There’s a belief that a player with his tools can elevate San Francisco’s offense to heights that give them a greater margin for error on defense. Their hope was that just by having Lance under center they’d be contenders the way other teams are that have top QBs.
They could view Purdy now as that player, but Lance’s added athleticism and arm strength give him and San Francisco’s offense a higher ceiling. That may still entice the coaching staff if he can consistently show growth with his release and accuracy. It should at least be enough to earn him the QB2 job ahead of Sam Darnold, who signed a one-year deal with the 49ers this offseason.
It didn’t seem likely Lance would make significant enough strides in the offseason to really challenge for the starting job. Now it sounds like there was substantial growth worth at least keeping a close eye on through OTAs and into training camp.
If that improvement is apparent when Lance is operating at full speed against a defense, an already fascinating 49ers QB situation could get an added injection of controversy.
