Michael Lombardi, others owe 49ers’ Trey Lance an apology

"He was very tentative and uncertain as to what is open in the NFL, he turned down a number of throws that were clearly there, the ball needed to come out …not a positive in the mind of Kyle Shanahan."

Those were the words of Greg Cosell this week, after watching the tape of Trey Lance from Sunday's preseason game. It's a fair evaluation of the young QB's performance. Lance was tentative and uncertain. He even admitted that he failed to pull the trigger on some throws he should have let go.

I believe in Trey Lance. But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to critique his play. I don't take issue with any analyst, reporter, content creator, or fan speaking out on a particular player, pointing out where that player needs to improve. It's part of sports. Even before there was social media or podcasts or the internet, there were people talking about sports, sometimes agreeing, sometimes debating, and always analyzing.

I can recall years ago, as a young kid in 1981, hearing some old guys sitting around talking about the top players in the game. One guy insisted Tony Dorsett was the best running back in the game. Another was confident in his assessment that Earl Campbell was the top rusher. One man complained about Cowboys quarterback Danny White and lamented the days when Roger Staubach was the signal-caller in Dallas. And there was the guy asking the others, "What do y'all think of that kid out in San Francisco? Montana. Looks like that may be a good team."

The Cowboys fan didn't seem too concerned. But later that season, he would be.

Analyzing sports has been around for many years. It's part of our culture. I like it. I do it every day. But for more than a year now, the national narrative on Trey Lance has been ridiculous, and after Sunday's preseason game, it seems to have reached a fever pitch, with national analysts saying even dumber things than they normally do, including a rumor that John Lynch wanted to draft Justin Fields, but that Kyle Shanahan wanted Lance.

Mostly, it's lazy takes like the one from Dan Orlovsky, on ESPN's "Get Up," who said, "I don't think Trey Lance can play in Kyle Shanahan's offense. I've seen enough." How have you seen enough? He's barely played.

Remember when ESPN was the place to go for sports news? Not anymore. "Look, they got a terrible situation on their hands with this Trey Lance," NFL analyst Marcus Spears said during ESPN's "First Take" on Monday. "This may go down as one of the worst trades in the draft in the history of the NFL. The fortunate part is Kyle Shanahan has done such a phenomenal job of getting this team ready to play and being so creative offensively that it hasn't shown in the win-loss column. But you lost a lot by going up [to] get Trey Lance."

I found it disrespectful that Spears referred to Lance as "this Trey Lance." Adding the word, "this" before someone's name can sometimes imply disgust, indifference, or that you think that person doesn't matter. It is possible the Lance trade could go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history. But that would be on the 49ers, not on "this Trey Lance" guy.

Former NFL running back, LeSean McCoy recently spoke out on Lance, as well, saying, "I don't want to see no more Trey Lance. I've seen enough of him. I don't wanna hear about him. And you know what's sad? It's really not his fault. Because he don't belong in the NFL...especially as a starter. Like if you watched him play, he shouldn't be in the NFL as a starting quarterback.

"When I look at Trey Lance, there's nothing he does special. With young players who are not confident yet, they always do something that's really, really good, right? There's nothing he does really, really good."

McCoy continued by saying he thought Lance was supposed to be fast, but he's not, and that he was supposed to have a strong arm, but he can't see that. So McCoy just doesn't want to hear about Lance anymore. If there is one thing I agree with McCoy about, it's that it's not Lance's fault. He didn't use three first-round picks to draft himself.

Comments like "I've seen enough," or "I don't wanna hear about him" are shortsighted and lazy. But it's comments, like what former NFL executive Michael Lombardi said, that are really out of line.

Lombardi, on his podcast, "The GM Shuffle," said, "As you go down this road with Lance, it just becomes harder and harder and harder. And you could show all the clips of him moving and all that stuff. At the end of the day, when his momma lifted him from the crib, he just didn't have that quarterback instinct."

What in the actual crap? Lombardi's statement is really offensive and ridiculous. Some say it's a racist statement. I don't know Lombardi, so I can't speak to that. But it was offensive and a bad thing to say. It rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe Lombardi is a nice guy, I don't know. But he needs to apologize to Lance, and at least make it known that he didn't intend for his comment to come out the way it did.

Bomani Jones, appearing on "The Morning Roast," on 95.7 The Game, on Tuesday said, "The thing with Trey Lance that I find so confusing is the talent is obvious and people are willing to bail on him based on a small sample size to jump on board with a dude that's far less talented, and also dealing with a pretty small sample size." Jones, as well as the hosts of "The Morning Roast," did not appreciate Lombardi's statement.

Jones makes a good point, though. Why is there so much hatred directed at Lance, where he's criticized for every blunder, while everyone appears to be all-in on Brock Purdy? For the record, I believe in both quarterbacks and will cheer for whoever is playing. But when Purdy misfires or throws a pick, he's rusty, or it's just practice. When Lance does it, the national media acts as though the young man has revealed some deep character flaw.

I'm not saying it isn't fair to criticize Trey Lance for his play on the field. But I am saying that some of it seems personal. Trey Lance deserves a chance to prove what he can do.

And he deserves an apology, too.

• Marc Adams
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