Social media dug up an old quote from Kyle Shanahan to create a narrative that the San Francisco 49ers head coach contradicted what he said in 2021 when asked to compare Trey Lance to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
"He's not Lamar Jackson," Shanahan said, via ESPN's Ed Werder. "Trey is a quarterback who has the ability to run. But to just line him up and run him, I mean, the game's too physical."
Despite injuries at RB, Kyle Shanahan doesn't view rookie QB Trey Lance as solution to create rushing yards. "He's not Lamar Jackson,'' he told me. "Trey is a quarterback who has the ability to run. But to just line him up and run him, I mean, the game's too physical.'
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) September 26, 2021
On Monday, some latched onto the comments because it felt like Shanahan put Lance in the same situation he once suggested he would avoid, forcing his young inexperienced quarterback to make something happen with his feet.
Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury on a play that saw the quarterback scramble on an option. He underwent surgery today.
Today, Shanahan was asked about the comments from 2021 and what he meant by them.
"Yeah, that means we didn't want to move him to running back," Shanahan responded. "That means everything is with a read principle and that you don't go out there and just run him every single play. He's a quarterback who can run.
"I also think that was in reference to [a reporter] asking if Trey could help us out at running back last year because of all our injuries to [the position]. And no, we weren't going to move him there."
Shanahan assumes Lance will undergo his rehabilitation with the team but admits they haven't discussed that yet. Right now, the plan is to make sure Lance is around.
"He got out of surgery a little bit ago," Shanahan said. "I know we're all just kind of worried about him and makings sure he's doing all right, mentally and physically. We'll talk to him here real soon. I know some guys have been over there already to visit him.
"But yeah, we're not sure yet, but as soon as he can get back in here and start rehabbing, we're going to want him [to be] a part of everything—every meeting he can be at, every practice he can be at. I know he's not going to be able to do all that because of how much he's got to rehab, especially in those meetings and stuff.
"We don't plan on Trey being away from us at all. Whenever he's not taking care of his ankle, we plan on [him] being with us."
Shanahan added that the expectation is that Lance will be healthy for Week 1 of the 2023 season.