The San Francisco 49ers opened their 2023 preseason with a thud, losing 34-7 to the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Here is what stood out from the game.
Trey Lance
Lance started out rough, holding the ball a couple of times on the opening possession and taking sacks instead of letting the ball go to open receivers.
On the second possession he was off the mark to Charlie Woerner on third and short. Lance was pressured on the play, but it looked as though the throw was there to be made.
The struggles continued into the third possession as Lance didn’t turn the ball loose off play action despite having his receiver open over the middle. Instead, he chose to throw the checkdown to Ross Dwelley and the pass sailed high.
Lance looked much more decisive on his fourth possession. After a couple of short completions Lance showed off his mobility by evading the rush before finding Willie Snead for a gain of 12. Now in the redzone, Lance nearly turned the ball over when his throw to Chris Conley hit a Raiders defender in the hands. Fortunately for the quarterback the ball ricocheted off the defender and into the hands of Ross Dwelley for a touchdown.
A sack opened Lance’s fifth possession. Working off play action, Lance couldn’t find an open receiver. He bounced back with a short completion while on the move to avoid the rush before hitting Chris Conley over the middle for a gain of 17.
Lance got an opportunity to run a two-minute drill to end the half. On first down his throw to Willie Snead over the middle was nearly intercepted by Raiders linebacker Amari Burney. Given a second chance, Lance took advantage by hitting Chris Conley down the left seam on the next play for a gain of 25. Lance connected with Troy Fumagalli for a gain of 22 on the next play to get the offense into field goal position.
Lance finished 10-15 for 112 yards and one touchdown.
There is plenty of room for improvement for Lance, but it was good to see the way he bounced back from a tough start to make some nice plays and move the offense.
Sam Darnold
The veteran quarterback took over in the second half, playing just three possessions.
Darnold quickly found success, hitting Ronnie Bell deep down the right sideline for gain of 37. He followed that up with a seven-yard completion to undrafted rookie free agent Isaiah Winstead and a 15-yard connection on a deep out to Tay Martin.
On the opening play of the next possession Darnold hit rookie Cameron Latu with a short throw while rolling to his left. The tight end juggled the pass before bringing it in and fumbled it away when hit.
Darnold’s third and final possession wasn’t good. He threw incomplete late off play action when he missed Ronnie Bell in the open window. The two connected for 16 yards on a throw up the right seam on the next play. Following a throw away, Darnold had Bell open on a deep in to beat a Raiders blitz, but the throw sailed high for an incompletion.
With just 18 snaps it seems we will see more of Darnold next Saturday when the 49ers take on the Denver Broncos. He threw just eight passes against the Raiders, completing five for 84 yards.
Brandon Allen
The 49ers fourth string quarterback replaced Darnold for the fourth quarter and completed five of eight attempts for 36 yards with an interception.
Allen’s performance was better than the numbers suggest. The interception came on a strike over the middle that Ronnie Bell let slip through his hands. He also should’ve had another completion, but Tay Martin couldn’t get a second foot down before going out of bounds.
Cameron Latu
A third-round selection, the tight end has struggled with drops throughout training camp. In the third quarter he caught his only target of the game but fumbled it away when hit.
There are things to like about Latu, blocking and route running, but if he can’t hold on to the ball there’s no way he should make this roster.
Jake Moody
The 49ers raised some eyebrows when they selected a kicker at 99 overall in the draft. Moody didn’t make a good first impression, missing wide left from 40 yards out before halftime. He got a chance from 58 yards in the second half and missed wide right, it wasn’t even close.
He’s giving off some serious Doug Brien vibes right now.
Clelin Ferrell
The 49ers added the former Raiders defensive end during free agency. His sack of Aidan O’Connell effectively ended the Raiders second possession.
Ferrell is solid against the run and could be a big addition for San Francisco if he can provide a pass rush presence off the bench.
Ronnie Bell
The seventh-round draft pick out of Michigan had an interesting day. On the positive side he made three solid catches for 58 yards including a long of 37 and picked up 15 yards on a run around the right side. On the negative side he dropped a perfect pass from Brandon Allen resulting in an interception.
Bell got the first opportunity to return kickoffs and punts. He picked up 24 yards on his first kickoff return but was held to just 16 on his second and 17 on this third.
Keith Ismael
Jon Feliciano started at center, but it wasn’t until he was replace by Ismael that the pass protection improved. A three year pro out of San Diego State, Ismael was solid in pass protection. His challenge is moving defenders off the line of scrimmage in the run game. He was at center when Jordan Mason was stuffed on fourth and two in the first half and when the 49ers gained zero yards on three rushing attempts in the second half with Sam Darnold at quarterback.
Isaiah Oliver
The 49ers new nickelback was beaten badly while allowing a touchdown from O’Connell to Keelan Cole.
Jordan Mason
Mason averaged 3.4 yards per rushing attempt, best among 49ers running backs, but dropped a screen from Trey Lance.
Samuel Womack
Womack was beat deep by Tre Tucker but the receiver was unable to hang on. On the positive side he stepped up to drop a Raiders running back for no gain on third and one in the second quarter.
Ambry Thomas
Thomas followed up Womack’s run stop with one of his own, dropping the back for a loss on fourth and one. The third-year cornerback showed some tight coverage down the field as well.
Marcelino McCrary-Ball
The second-year linebacker finished with six tackles and had one of the best hits of the game when he dropped Ameer Abdullah on a screen in the first half.
Jalen Graham
The rookie draft pick tied with McCrary-Ball for a team high six tackles. The backer was all over the field, making plays against the run and pass. He did make one mistake when he was called for unnecessary roughness after striking a Raiders receiver in the head.
Kevin Givens and Javon Kinlaw
The 49ers defensive tackles were blown off the ball repeatedly early in the game resulting in big runs up the middle. Not only did this create running lanes up the middle, but it made it so the linebackers had too much traffic in front of them to make a stop.
Kyle Shanahan has officially RUINED Trey Lance. Congratulations Kyle. I can’t say for certain that this was your gameplan coming into this season, but it sure feels that way. Thanks for wasting my time today, KYLE!
It’s now time for Trey and his agent to publicly ask for a breakup, because if I’m Trey, I am officially DONE with Kyle, after the way he treated Trey during joint practices!
BTW, I predicted this outcome the day the Niners drafted this raw QB! Trey was simply DRAFTED BY THE WRONG TEAM / HC! A young QB’s confidence is the key. A QB who hasn’t played much at all, is the kind of QB who needs to be propped up. Kyle did the OPPOSITE, and now every time Trey takes a meaningful snap, he feels like his career depends on it.
I lover me some BROCK PURDY, but my gosh, Kyle has literally thrown THREE (3) first round picks down the F-ing drain!
Kyle Shanahan does a lot of things well as a HC, unfortunately he’s almost CLUELESS when it comes to the most important position on his team, and it’s already cost him dearly!
I am out for now! And as for TREY …. best of luck to you kiddo!
And JACK, I sure hope you have some choice words for Kyle, because I feel like he wasted an entire Sunday afternoon for me! Cheers!
Good to have you and your valuable insights back again, Jaxson. Have missed you here.
Thanks, 49ersUnderKSraBust. I’ll be around this season!
Let’s GO NINERS!
I love you, Jaxson.
it is my humble opinion that KS is really just an over hyped HC by all his friend in the national media, i dont see the local media making him out to the be the boy genius that cant do nothing wrong.
for me this teams is going to go as far as the defense carry them, even the running game i dont think it is that great, plus for all this “kyle can take any RB and turn him into a star” i just tell people, the 9ers have spend a bunch of draft picks since KS got here from joe williams, serman, mitchell, TDP, they paid crazy money to mckinnion and coleman and then they traded more picks for CMC, it really shouldn’t take so much resources for a HC to figure out what is it that he needs in a RB.
the OL cant protect! even a great qb is going to look bad w this OL
Can you name one professional, past or present who agrees with you?
Jack,
It very easy to identify which generation you come from as opposed to which one I come from. You compare Jake Moody to Doug Brien while I compared him to Steve Mike-Mayer but either way it is not very good.
Steve Miss-a-Mile! Good Lord I haven’t heard that name in decades! LMAO!
Jack,
Did you think at any of the 49ers OTs looked good at all? Do they need to start looking for a swing OT trade right away?
I agree with the assessments of the 2nd and 3rd team O linemen..they left a bit to be desired yesterday…..are they as bad individually as they looked yesterday? Or was it a case of a couple of them stinking the joint up, making the units look bad?…putting that aside, with all the jabber about the loaded roster, how many 9ers made the NFL Top100, Super Bowl aspirations and windows, the 9ers are an injury to a key player away from mediocrity..they need to look the elephant in the room, straight in the eye..that being, who is gonna replace TW71…should he suffer a serious, season ending injury….or decide to retire after this season?
OC,
I think the OT’s were better than the interior. If they feel a need to get a swing tackle they should sign Tom Compton if he’s ready to go. He knows the system and they know him.
Well I know my ex-wife pretty well. And she knows me. Doesn’t mean we should hook up again.
Niners will be pouring over the waiver wire looking for OL talent. No O line means your team has no chance.
I wonder if Oliver was expecting help on the outside on that TD. He was playing inside and it was an easy decision for receiver to go outside
Ok, Everybody. True it was frustrating and disappointing. The backups were lousy. They did Trey and Sam no justice. But one preseason loss does not mean a losing season upcoming. Maybe the Raiders have better depth than we do. Let’s see how the next two games go.
Capt. K, you are 100% correct about the “outcome” of tonight’s game.
But for those of us who understand the difference between getting outplayed, compared to simply NOT SHOWING UP TO COMPETE, tonight was a MAJOR letdown! SORRY, but this entire week was NOT GOOD ENOUGH for a team with Super Bowl aspirations!
It’s that simple! And that’s 99.9% on Kyle Shanahan! Every NINERS fan in the country should be embarrassed by this week’s performance!
Equally at fault were the 2 turnovers, 4 sacks, and too many penalties.
Yep, so tell me Felix, who’s to blame for your “faults”? Can you give me some names, because at this point we need some names. That’s what scouting is all about, Felix!
Please give us you’re best and worst list?:
Are you capable of rational dialogue?
Just give me some names, FELIX, that’s all I ask. Come on bro ……
And tell me again why you are OK with the fact that Kyle Shanahan neglected to scout the 2017 QB draft class even though his 49ers desperately needed a franchise QB?
I’ll be waiting.
BTW Jack, I just watched backup OT MATT PRIOR take the entire night off against the Raiders! Did you see what I saw?
Rarely have I seen such an uninspired effort from a “primary backup OT” as I just saw from this joker! I counted no less than FIVE (5) plays where he gave the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM effort required! What the F is that, Jack?
I am so angry at the “Matt Priors” of this 49ers team right now, that I want him CUT TOMRROW! That’s how I feel!
If Matt Prior makes this fu_king team, I am going to go ballistic!
I know it’s too early to be cutting guys who are on the bubble, but here is my list, off of the top of my head, after this week’s pitiful Niners’ performances:
OT – MATT PRYOR
CB – MYLES HARTSFIELD
TE – CAMERON LATU
RB – JEREMY McNICHOLS
OL – NICK ZAKELJ
Agree with Jax but I wish we had seen much more of Laborn. He hardly hit the field.
Suggests they’re hiding him to get him through waivers
Raiders looked too good, especially the rookie QB.
Lance didn’t have a chance with the back-up OL
We might be stuck with him…
“We might be stuck with him…”
You mean Kyle S, Mr. Slow Start?
We’re stuck with both of them, but Trey might have had trade value.
I doubt we get any suitors at all now.
Trey is were he left off last season, not a good QB, not a great QB but a QB with potential.
Raiders got Jimmy and O’Connel.
We only got Purdy.
Jack ~
Two givens:: You know more abouit this than I do,, and this was a pre-season gave. Still, I have a few observations.
Overall, the Niner reserves were terrible, on offense, defense, and field goal kicking. While the starters may be first rate the back-ups are not. The game was a debacle, and does not offer hope for the future.
Rumors out of Las Vegas that the Raiders were interested in Lance as backup to Jimmy G can be put to rest. He did little to influence the Raiders and his trade stock went way down. The Niners will look to Sam D as the second QB.
You pointed out a few players desserving priase. But you omitted that little corner back from Texas, who certainly showed lots of promise.
And the tight end situation remains muddy, at best.
Hey Rockne, I am assuming you are referring to D’SHAWN
JAMISON? I love this kid! I absolutely love him! He is everything I want in a undrafted skill player/ DB. Since day ONE he’s been among the top of my UDFA list. But I just don’t know at this point. I just don’t know what this Niners’ regime is looking for, at this point! You tell US!
I mean, these absurd position battles are breaking me!
Rockne –
D’Shawn Jamison looked like the best returner on the field to me. Had him in my notes and he should have been included. Good call.
agree..I also love Graham
Per wts.com
“Going undefeated in the preseason doesn’t ensure a team’s success in the regular season either. Both the 2017 Cleveland Browns and the 2008 Detroit Lions finished 0-16 in the regular season despite having 4-0 preseason records.
In the last 50 years, the 1982 Washington Redskins (W) are the only one team that has won the Super Bowl after going 0-4 in the preseason.”
Maybe we should pump the brakes a little following this lose. It’s a preseason game and the only redeeming value is to evaluate the 2-3 string players. Most of the players on field yesterday could be gone in the next couple of weeks.
And maybe some of the players who had poor performances will shine next week.
TBD
AES,
It wasn’t just the loss in the game it was two days of very poor play during the scrimmages
Coach,
The 49ers are notorious for slow starts. Plus, the Raiders for some crazy reason seem to play well against the 49ers. Remember, that the 49ers had to beat them in overtime last year.
The starters didn’t play for both teams yesterday which means that it was basically a glorified practice evolving hitting.
I think we both can agree that what we saw yesterday is not what we’ll see in September.
Yes, the sky is not falling. The Oline didn’t do great under Lance, but did much better under Darnold. Some players didn’t have great days and others did. These games are not about winning, but about getting reps and for evaluations. I think these games are very important for Evaluations, especially for QB’s.
“I think these games are very important for Evaluations, especially for QB’s.”
I wholeheartedly agree. But, when assessing Darnold and Lance’s performance yesterday, I have to ask myself how they would have played with the starting offense around them.
Shanahan made a comment back in June that he felt Lance could have won games at QB, had he not been injured. When I think of the QB position in a Shanahan offense, I look at the offense as a whole.
Trent Williams, CMC, Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, Banks, Jennings among others.
A good number of QBs in the league could find success in this offense.
It’s still a tight race between Darnold and Lance, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them play at least one QRTR each with the 1st team offense, for a better assessment.
My only disagreement is that Lance’s deer in the headlights look, wasn’t the fault of the Oline and Darnold seemed to do quite well with that Oline. Hopefully Trey will do better next time.
Darnold did look much more comfortable. But, he also has 6 years of NFL experience. Darnold edged out Lance in yesterday’s game. But, SD didn’t exactly light it up either.
At this point, only two things are settled in the QB room (imo) – Purdy is QB1 and Branden Allen is QB3.
The race between Darnold and Lance will likely end after the last preseason game.
Edged out?
More like created a big CHASM between him and Trey. With Trey all the way at the bottom and Sam all the way at the top.
Sorry but Sam’s performance combined with Trey’s less-than-inspiring (to be nice) showing has given Sam Darnold a very Sizeable lead in the QB2 race.
Now is the competition over? no. of course not.
But QB2 is now officially Sam’s to lose. And with the news that he’ll get more reps next week (like Trey did), if he even does FAIRLY-WELL (not just outstanding or great), then he’ll just about wrap up his spot at QB2, leaving Trey and Brandon Allen to battle it out for the QB3 position.
And btw, Allen looked WAY BETTER than Trey. Think about that.
Darnold may have looked better than Lance, but perhaps my “edge out” term is a reach like your “chasm” term.
If Shanahan had to make a move re Darnold or Lance after yesterday’s game, SD would have been named the QB2 today. But, one good preseason game doesn’t guarantee an immediate QB move by a head coach. If you know of any such moves after one preseason game between two close QB competitors, I’d sure like to know.
Lance had less positive moments than did Darnold. But, the 5yr veteran (Darnold) couldn’t get the ball into the endzone against 2nd and 3rd tier players.
That does not put him in the “chasm” category for me.
My takeaways:
– The O-Line was super lousy. Wasn’t the O-Line already the biggest issue in the past? Not addressed at all. With this O-Line, all QBs will have their issues …
– I hope Jake Moody will not be trapped by this super bad day.
– Brandon Allen looked quite good! I think he deserves more reps to show if he is competitive*
– The Defense looked not too bad for quite some time – they stopped many drives – but in the end the Raiders made far too much points – so maybe I had a wrong perception.
* I did not watch to the far end – I left the last 3 minutes out – so don’t know if there was another possession for him.
Two additions:
– I liked #22 punt returns – wtf all his returns got called back due to holding penalties …
– Don’t know the penalty comparison – but I remember only one block in the back for the Raiders and it felt like 10+ for the Niners …
The O-line was crap.
But both Sam Darnold AND Brandon Allen found SOME success even with that O-Line that Trey couldn’t.
Now some would say “Well Darnold is used to playing behind Crap O-Lines”(which is true) but what’s the excuse for Brandon Allen?
yeah….
I’m more than a little baffled that you can write a preseason opener synopsis without specifically talking about how bad the O-line was in this game. You just glanced over it with the mention of Ismael. Sure, the QBs looked indecisive and Lance again had accuracy issues. But the O-line was putrid throughout the game. Pryor, Zakelj, and Feliciano were particularly terrible. At least they made up for terrible play by not actually knowing their blocking assignments. Pryor looks absolutely lost. Go back and look at that 3rd & 5 on the 2nd series. Lance had less than 2 seconds before the rush was on him. Zakelj should have come off a double team to take on a rusher but he didn’t so Lance had traffic in his face and at his legs. I mean this was really, really bad O-line play. Not sure how you neglect to mention it. Chris Foerster shouldn’t get a pass for this level of performance.
Actually the Oline with some 3’s playing in the 3rd quarter did much better with Darnold. Much of their problems in the 1st half was due to Lance not being able to make a decision. Darold threw for 84 yards which is pretty good fro a quarter.
4 sacks and 9 pressures on 15 dropbacks was due to Lance being indecisive? Seriously? Lance didn’t have time to go through any progression. If the first guy wasn’t open then Lance was running for his life. Sure, Lance didn’t look great but that O-line wasn’t blameless in that performance.
I never said they were blameless because weren’t. I simply said Lance was indecisive and caused much of his own problems. Darold didn’t get sacked once and he threw for 84 yards in 1 quarter.
Exactly.
With that same O-Line, Sam did fine.
hell….even Brandon Allen found success.
Maybe it’s not the O-Line. Maybe it’s Trey Lance?
Lance put 6 points on the scoreboard.
How many did Darnold put up?
Last I looked, points are more important than style.
Maybe we need a skilled talent observor to watch the waiver wire to see if any very late cuts from good teams might help us?
They already do that.
On Trey, I don’t understand what the surprise is about his performance. Yes, the oline factored in, but watch last year’s Chicago game. Also you have to keep in mind that Darnold’s played for five seasons. So how many games against NFL defenses is that? 60-70 allowing for injury? There’s really no hiding the fact that, besides his fine character and coachability, all Trey has going for him at this stage is potential regarding his big arm and athleticism. And this says nothing about his ability to process.
Here’s a question to put this in perspective: Putting aside what the Niners invested to draft him, who would you rather see at QB2 for us?
Trey Lance
Sam Darnold
Brandon Allen
Colt McCoy, if he were available and he’s not
Andy Dalton, ditto
Teddy Bridgewater, ditto
Someone I left out (you name him)
I agree that he has shown nothing so far in games. People like to talk about athleticism but the most important skill is processing which leads to composure. I’m starting to realize that he just might not have the ability to be a QB.
Yeah, I think the pro game is simply too difficult for him. It’s nothing against him, as most college qbs aren’t up for it. If they wanted a qb who was also an elusive runner, they should have drafted Fields. I’ll never forget the Ohio State/Auburn game, when he was unstoppable. What Trey gets out of this is becoming a millionaire. With better line protection, he’ll do better of course, but I don’t believe he’s starter material.
Did anyone else see Grant Cohn’s youtube post game post last night. I think he has finally lost it. He insinuated that KS is keeping Lance down, that he is not giving Lance a fair shot for racial reasons. He basically called KS a racist. I realize he is all about getting the clicks but holy crap he went way over board last night. I tried to find the post this morning but couldn’t find it. I think it may have gotten pulled.
How does little conehead explain drafting him if Shanahan is a racist? Did he become a racist after drafting him? Baby Cone is an idiot!
Coach,
GC, is a hack. If I recall, he also tried to push the racist label on Nick Bosa during the month leading up to the draft. GC almost got his arse handed to him by Bam Davis and Javon Kinlaw.
Oh, and lest we forget, he single handedly killed this blog.
Video still available. Cohn was, is a huge backer of Trey Lance. He’s looking for something, anything to blame KS for Lance’s failure to develop. Lots of reasons around. Racism is not one of them.
Hopefully he got pulled as well. He should be an embarrassment for any employer.
This is Jack’s breakdown of every Lance pass. It’s terrific. I learned so much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GHNOZY3nWY
Thanks!
Jack at his best!
The Raiders played good, can’t ignore that. they got a solid D (not sure if they are backups), but their D were good.
Too early to call it a dumpster fire. Let’s see what the next 2 games hold for us. I hope this awful play will ignite our team to do better.
I’m getting worried about Bosa.
Back to practice tomorrow. What I would like to see most is for Purdy to put together two consecutive practices without an Int.
Secondly two questions for Jack. After watching game film was Kinlaw as bad as he looked? Did Spencer Waege play Sunday and if he did how did he look to you?
Jack,
I watched your All22 breakdown of Lance on Youtube. Really great stuff. I agreed with you on 95% of what you said. The pre-snap read assessment was spot on. There were a few things I disagreed with you on. For instance, the 3rd & 6 on the first drive is a Pick 6 if Lance throws to Dwelley – even if he puts it on Dwelley’s left shoulder as you mentioned. The CB is bumping the outside WR and then he’s coming up on the route in the flats. i think, even with proper timing, that CB has enough time to cut under Dwelley for the Int. I think the proper throw is to the outside WR in the gap between the CB and the Safety in the zone. The reason Lance is delayed is because he’s reading that CB and he’s unsure if the CB has Man or is in Zone. That in itself is an experience and pre-snap read issue.
And on the 3 step drop and ball out argument – I TOTALLY agree with you. That’s a timing play without much room for indecision. BUT, where I disagree is that the O-line is totally blameless on those plays. Watch Moore and Zakelj on those plays. They have no anchor. They are bull rushed like they are kids going against grown men. You are correct that Lance has most of the blame on those plays. BUT, I still think the O-line needs to be stronger at the point of attack. I don’t pin those sacks on the O-line but a little more help sure would have been nice.
Quote & Unquote from ESPN–
Trey Lance doesn’t have reps playing football…….NO KIDDING. He’s hardly played in college, they made him sit his first year and he got hurt his second year. Trading all those picks for a QB project that you couldn’t or wouldn’t develop from day one was idiotic by the 49er organization. No he doesn’t fit their system? Way to do your homework before trading what amounted to Hill, Chubb, & Waddle for Miami. They may have lucked out with Purdy but it’s a bit premature to say he’s their future either since they had a cake schedule last year and now he’s coming off a major injury himself and looking bad as well in camp. This is the same braintrust that passed on Mahomes for CJ Beathard and ended up paying for Jimmy G. They also wasted picks on RB’s they never developed before opening the checkbook for C-Mac in an era where RB’s aren’t getting paid much. Shanny and Lynch get a lot of benefit of doubt because Shanny’s SB winning father but their best player, Bosa was someone who basically fell on their laps as the consensus #1 overall pick. There’s a reason SF hasn’t won a SB since people were using VHS tapes. A big one is only TWO of their QB’s managed to last a full season the past two decades. They’ll manage to get bounced from the weak NFC where they face hardly any elite QB’s, even with their savior Purdy (assuming he can last a full season playing “point guard”).
This too will pass, thanks to the compliant Bay Area sports media, and ebullient John Lynch will continue to smile & the dour Kyle Shanahan will continue to frown as the SB eludes the Niners for the 29th successive year.
Haters gonna hate
Gary,
Who wrote this?
The selection of Lance was akin to a UFO sighting.
I saw something in the sky and think it’s a UFO. It looked like a UFO, it was fast, there were lights. It can only be a UFO. YES it’s a UFO
And if it is true, if it is a UFO, we’d be stupid to not grab it.
Whatever it takes!
We can’t let this one get away!
BTW UFO is unknown football objective….
Gary, Absolutely ridiculous. Anyone can pick apart any teams draft picks, because no one gets it right all the time, but few teams get right as often as the Niners. Whoever wrote this is either incredibly stupid or more likely, just struggling in his career and looking for clicks. Just compare this article to the success the past 3 years. Most time in the NFL would love to have that record and the Niners players.
Colin Herd did a nice piece on Lance during his morning show today.
I can’t paraphrase everything he said, but a few of things he said were caught my attention.
1. Lance does not “fit” in Shanahan’s offense.
2. Lance does have the ability to play in the league.
3. Lance to Minnesota would be a good landing place for Trey. He believes that the Vikings would give up a 6 rd pick for TL.
Of course, what Herd or any reporter says about Lance and the 49ers is purely hypothetical.
But, one thing Herd said that I have been saying for some time, is that Trey has not had enough “reps” to clearly evaluate him.
I may have to agree with CH that Lance won’t get the needed reps in San Francisco. Not, with Purdy and Darnold ahead of him.
If Lance is successful in this league, I think it likely it will be on a path similar to Geno Smith. That means it very likely won’t be with the 49ers and will be some time in coming.
I know this would never happen but I wonder if the NFL would ever treat the USFL like a developmental minor league and send players who have talent but need experience to play in the offseason. I understand the risk of injury is probably too great but it would be nice if Trey Lance could get snaps in real action outside the 49ers practice limitations. If you could make it work then maybe send Lance to a USFL Team and pair him with a coach who you’d also like to develop. Maybe send Lance to the Birmingham Stallions along with Brian Griese or Klay Kubiak to be the Offensive Coordinators running that offense for Lance. Then you could also help develop some WRs or OL in the USFL in your scheme to sign as FAs if they are good enough. Potentially could also serve as a tryout for young coaches to be evaluated for entry level NFL jobs.
Pat,
They tried that with NFL Europe. I imagine like all spring football leagues the USFL will lose money and go under so maybe if the NFL offered to bail them out financially they could come up with a deal.
There should be a new NFL rule to increase the practice squads. Along with the allowance of protecting up to 4 players from the PS. In the event the 49ers want to focus on a particular player, he’s protected.
It all depends on how Shanahan views Trey. If he still believes in Trey’s upside and that he can develop into the QB he originally thought he could become, I don’t see them trading him anytime soon. we’ll know more after the preseason. It’s possible that Kyles seen enough but I kind of doubt that and not not sure that the backup position has been decided.
Yeah, I hope you’re right, because I have a feeling that Lance can be successful in this league. I would like that to happen with the 49ers, but keeping him and Darnold might not be financially possible.
I hope the FO and coaching staff are clear on Lance’s future by the beginning of Sept. Either he is their #2 with the thought that he will compete with BP next year or trade him and save 24 mill on next years cap.
The latter part of your take would make more sense.
I think you’ve mentioned this before Coach, but I believe that Shanahan would like to see Trey look good in preseason with the plan to trade him either after preseason or the NFL trading deadline.
I have to agree with Herd, that Trey has NFL talent, but it won’t come to fruition with the 49ers being behind Purdy and Darnold.
Well another day another pick 6 for Brock Purdy and another potential pick dropped by Lenior. Come on Brock just give us one day without a pick. Earlier I was hoping for 2 days in a row without a pick but now I would settle for one.
IDK, OC. Practice is the time to try things to see if they will work. I also suspect that the defense kind of knows what the offense is up to and therefore the probability of picks go up. Further, I wonder if there are times where the directive is to throw the ball in a certain direction and don’t worry if it gets intercepted. Those plays are then reviewed by the staff to see how they should be changed if at all.
My point is that picks in camp/practice shouldn’t be considered to be equal to picks in games. Remember that time Jimmy through 5 picks in a practice and people freaked. Didn’t he recently throw 4 picks before the niner’s joint practices and by all accounts he carved up the niners during those joint practices. Point is that I’m not sure there is a strong correlation between picks thrown in practice eventually leading to increased number of picks thrown in games.
Cubus,
I don’t know how important or unimportant Ints in practice are I just know I would rather have a QB who doesn’t throw Ints in practice than one who does.
If TC practices could be broken down into quarters, I wonder what Purdy’s Int average would look like.
I think back about Jimmy G’s 5 Int’s during one practice. That was rough, but he didn’t average close to an Int per practice like Brock has. Purdy’s Ints are setting a bad pattern. This cannot happen during the regular season.
A report out there today by Tony Pauline saying it is “likely” That Bosa’s holdout will last into the regular season. The Bosa family is known for understanding that football is a business and his Bro, Dad and Uncle all had hold outs that lasted into the reg season.
Family tradition, lol