The San Francisco 49ers have made clear that the starting quarterback job belongs to Jimmy Garoppolo, at least in 2021. That does not mean No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance isn’t going to have a role.
Coach Kyle Shanahan admitted Friday that Lance would definitely get playing time in 2021, though the coach reasserted that Lance was not going to start. Shanahan did say that Lance would get plays, and the team wanted to prepare him for anything.
"Trey is going to play for us this year whether it's-I know you're all running to Twitter-situationally he is going to get plays. That doesn't mean he'll go start or anything. He's going to get plays and you have to prepare him for that every way possible." – Kyle Shanahan #49ers
— Jennifer Lee Chan (@jenniferleechan) August 6, 2021
Shanahan has been hard to pin down on Lance. For instance, the rookie took snaps with the starters this week one day after Shanahan said that was not in his plans. The coach claimed it was to prepare the offense for possible special packages involving Lance. It may be that Shanahan wants to keep the hype from getting out of control, or maybe Lance is progressing faster than he anticipated.
Earlier reports indicated that the 49ers want to unleash Lance in unique ways this season. This is the closest Shanahan has come to admitting to that.
