ESPN's Jeremy Fowler appeared on SportsCenter this morning. He discussed the San Francisco 49ers' offseason plan for quarterback Trey Lance. The last of the team's practices from the offseason program was on June 7. Players won't reconvene in Santa Clara until July 27.
Quarterback Trey Lance, the No. 3 overall pick in April, got a good amount of work during his weeks of practices with his new team. Fowler explained the Niners' focus in the early portion of the rookie's development (h/t to Patrick Tulini).
"I'm told San Fran spent much of the OTAs and minicamp working on Trey Lance's mechanics, making sure things were compact," Fowler said via Riley Gates of 247 Sports. "And the reason is they wanted to get that down so that in training camp they can unleash the full arsenal. They can show him off as a runner."
Lance was an exceptional athlete during his limited playing time at North Dakota State. Kyle Shanahan fell in love with the idea of adding Lance to his offense in January, shortly after the end of the regular season. The 49ers head coach saw all the makings of a good passing quarterback. The fact that Lance could be a dual-threat with his running ability was a bonus.
"They don't want to put him in harm's way and have him take too many hits," Fowler continued. "But they love the dimension he can bring to Kyle Shanahan's attack because they couldn't do it with Jimmy Garoppolo. They could do it with Lance as a runner and a passer."
While Garoppolo is slated to be the 49ers' starter for the upcoming season, Lance is clearly the quarterback of the future. San Francisco was aggressive in acquiring Lance. The team initially owned the No. 12 overall pick but traded up nine spots to draft the former Bison quarterback, surrendering first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 and a third-rounder to the Miami Dolphins in the process.
Lance appeared in just one college game last season due to the pandemic. However, he threw for 2,786 yards in 2019 while rushing for an impressive 1,100 yards and accounting for 42 touchdowns. Lance didn't throw an interception in his 287 pass attempts during that sophomore season.