49ers QB Trey Lance: The Ups and Downs

An old cliche phrase says, "It's not about how you start. It's about how you finish." I would encourage the faithful to keep that in mind when evaluating the new quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Trey Lance. After three practices, Lance has completed around 20 out of 37 passes and thrown two interceptions for a completion rate of a little over 50 percent (54 percent, to be exact). A young quarterback completing over 50 percent of his passes is not that bad, especially when you factor in the context.

During day one's session at training camp, Lance went 9-11 with zero interceptions. Cornerback Emmanuel Moseley should have picked one pass, but it was dropped and recorded as a pass breakup, and the other was an incompletion because his receiver slipped and fell.

During day two's session, Lance finished 7-15, per Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. He threw an interception to safety Jimmie Ward early in practice, recovered, and completed the training positively. Lance aired it out to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for 20-or-more yards multiple times, evaded pressure from Nick Bosa, and scrambled out of the pocket for a good gain on the ground. Lance also had a few dropped passes by his receivers.

During day three's session, Lance finished practice 4-11 with an interception by safety Talanoa Hufanga on a pass intended to George Kittle over the middle, per Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area. Lance also had a few of his passes dropped, one that hit wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud in the face mask. Some of the beat writers said it may have been his best throw of the day.

Lance was interviewed by CBS Sports and said, "There's always going to be ups and downs. I'm kind of more worried at this point about how we respond. I thought it was a little bit sloppy today for sure on my end, but we are going to keep getting better. It's only day three; we got a lot of work to do."

Practice makes perfect, and as long as the 49ers continue to believe in Lance, he will get into a groove. Making mistakes against a top 5 defense, with a backup offensive line and not much of a running game, will only make Trey Lance sharper and decisive during a real simulated game.