SANTA CLARA, California. At the start of the training camp, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear that he intends to play rookie quarterback Trey Lance along with starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
In Sunday’s preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Niners offered an idea of how it might work. For the only two units that most San Francisco starters were on the field, Shanahan turned his two signal callers liberally.
Out of 24 possible plays, Garoppolo made 14 snapshots and Lance got 10. In the first unit, he split evenly into the 10-play unit, with Garoppolo handling nine plays at Lance’s five in the second. Both units resulted in quick touchdowns, another thing the quarterbacks split with one for each of them in San Francisco’s 34-10 victory.
“I think getting into it, at first it was weird, just having to process everything,” Garoppolo said. “But after going out on the field, it was fun. When we click like that and the defense sinks like that, it makes it hard. We’re trying to win games around here, so whatever it takes I’ll do it.”
Garoppolo finished 4 of 7 for 64 yards with a score of 87.8. He also had two runs for 3 yards and one touchdown in his 14 total shoots. Lance was 6 of 13 for 46 yards with a pass rating of 55.3 and ran six times for 8 yards and a score while playing 33 snapshots in total. Nate Sudfeld replaced Lance in the Niners’ second unit of the third quarter.
Last week, Shanahan acknowledged he wasn’t quite sure how he would take a potential quarterback platoon or when he would deploy in regular-season games. Shanahan has compared the idea to how the New Orleans Saints used Drew Brees and Taysom Hill in recent years, though Lance doesn’t line up in different quarterback positions as Hill did so often.
After Shanahan made those comments Wednesday, the Niners began spinning the two quarterbacks a bit during periods of “moving the ball” in that practice. In Thursday’s session, the final practice of the preseason open to the media, Lance and Garoppolo spun, but only during the red zone periods.
On Sunday, Shanahan said he planned to rotate the quarterbacks, but allowed their implementation to take place organically.
“I thought they were doing a good job,” Shanahan said. “By no means was it perfect, but I thought its function, going in and out and not knowing who it would be, was not a planned rotation. We tried to make it situational.”
Part of Shanahan’s motivation for subduing his quarterbacks so often was to get them and the offense used to how it would work in a game situation, as the game clock works the same, regardless of who the quarterback is and the communication between coach / quarterback cuts to 15 seconds.
In the first series, Lance entered Garoppolo twice to cover his five snapshots and entered four times for his five total snapshots in the second unit. For each time he entered, Lance stayed close to Shanahan on the sidelines, waited to hear his group of staff, and entered.
Once she got into the confusion, Lance got the call and handed it over to his teammates. Like Garoppolo, Lance said he liked the rotation.
“It’s fun,” Lance said. “I trust coach Shanahan and I know Jimmy does it and so does our entire team and locker room. He’s going to find ways to get the guys who need the ball, the ball and do whatever it takes to win games. .. It was good to get the pace. “
Although Lance and Garoppolo made the most of their peloton, they both seemed to escape the injury.
Garoppolo dived during the first touchdown of the game while two Raiders converged on him. It was okay, but it was a questionable decision in a preseason game.
“If it had hurt me, it would have been a terrible idea,” Garoppolo said. “But yeah, it stings the wood, luckily, good things came out of it.”
Later in the first half, Lance put his finger on the helmet of a Raiders defender after throwing. He was seen holding his finger for a few plays, but finished his part of the game without incident.
“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow when we can explain a little more, but we’re not too worried,” Lance said.
After the game, Shanahan again refused to nominate a starter for the Sept. 12 opening against the Detroit Lions, repeating that he had a “good idea” of who he would be. Most of the signs still point to Garoppolo having Lance and having many opportunities to work where Shanahan deems it convenient.
Which means it’s better for the Niners offense to get used to seeing any quarterback at any time.
“It catches you by surprise because I’m used to having Jimmy in there, so when Trey comes in, it’s like‘ Oh, here comes Trey, what are you doing here, 5? “Raheem Mostert said.” But it’s great. It’s definitely unique and honestly it’s fun. “