John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan confident in Trey Lance’s ability to be 49ers’ starter

Following the San Francisco 49ers' disheartening 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game, head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch sat down with the media to address the future of the team.

Obviously, the future involves current rookie quarterback Trey Lance, whom the 49ers selected with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, so it wasn't a surprise that he was a hot topic of conversation.

While Shanahan understood the limited amount of film the 49ers had on Lance heading into the draft, the head coach believes that the rookie has grown over the year, and has the ability to take over as the starting quarterback.

"We knew we were very limited on the amount he got to play, especially missing the last year of COVID. So you have to go off what you see on tape and believing in the person and we did. Having him here for a whole year, I feel stronger about [his abilities to be a starting quarterback]. He's got the ability to do it. He's got the mind to do it. And I think he's the type of person who can handle all the stuff that goes with it."

Lynch admires the traits Lance possesses and admitted to the media that he was impressed in the short stints that Lance played this season, sharing full confidence that the 21-year old could be the starter for the 49ers moving forward.

"You have to have a lot of substance to play quarterback in this league both physically and from just a who you are standpoint. And I think Trey checks both those boxes and what you know is the things that Kyle and his staff have identified for Trey on things to work with. This guy's focus, his work ethic," Lynch said. "When he had an opportunity to go play, I saw that competitive greatness that you look for in people who are going to lead your organization. And so even though we saw it, however brief it was, I saw it. And so it gives me a lot of belief that it's there and that he's exactly who we thought he was when we picked him. And we're really excited about that."

When asked about what he learned about Lance as the season prolonged, Shanahan stated that he was what the 49ers looked for, which was extremely important given the lack of access to draft prospects with COVID protocols last season.

"Yeah, I think what I learned most about Trey is I learned that he was the person that we were banking on him being. When you go through a draft process, especially with the COVID rules we had where you weren't allowed to really be with someone in person, you're allowed to watch him at a distance from a pro day, you're allowed to have zooms and talk to him, so we got to put a lot of time into that stuff, so I felt like we really had a good feel of who he was, but you never know until you really get with someone and just being with him this whole year."

With limited college experience, Shanahan made it a goal to have Lance experience plays that were out of his comfort zone to elevate his knowledge of the offense.

"We asked him to do a lot of different things and just watching him play in the pocket, watching him work on play actions that he didn't get to do as much in college. He had never done a seven-step drop before, which is how a lot of play actions are," Shanahan said. "He'd always done five and trying to mess with his feet and timing of all different types of plays. I thought it was great for him."

While there were many calling for Lance's name during San Francisco's early struggles, Shanahan believes he made the right decision not forcing the rookie into situations while he was still learning to process at the NFL level.

"I think it was good that he could kind of sit back and watch all that and not get forced into stuff where he's learning it and doing it for the first time at full speed versus NFL defenses, because it's a lot harder. But yeah, towards the end of the year, I never thought about just trying to get him in because I knew that was about to come."

However, that doesn't mean the thought didn't cross his mind. Shanahan did come close to handing the keys to Lance when the team was struggling at 3-5, coming off a loss to Colt McCoy's Arizona Cardinals.

"When we were 3-5, that was kind of the breaking point where I knew it was getting close. I know everyone else thought it was there, which I agreed it was getting close to there."

But, after the 49ers went on their winning streak, the mindset shifted towards the playoffs, and Shanahan did not want to disrupt the team dynamic with an abrupt change, unless it was for strategic reasons.

"Once we won that game [against the Rams in Week 10] and went to 4-5 and ended up winning four in a row, I thought we had a chance. And when you're doing that, you don't want to mess with the team," Shanahan said. "I would've done it for strategic reasons, if I thought it helped, but I wasn't going to do it just to help Trey get 4-6 plays and ease him in at that time, because that's not what we were thinking about at that time. We were thinking about how we can get our team to the playoffs. And once we got to the playoffs, we were thinking how we could win each game, because we knew only one team was going to be happy at the end. And we're not that happy."

Lance is expected to be the starter in 2022, as Jimmy Garoppolo confirmed in his post-season presser that his team and the 49ers' front office were thinking of trade options for the veteran.