Trey Lance has a tough task this week. No, he is not expecting to start Saturday's playoff game against the Green Bay Packers. As part of the practice squad, the San Francisco 49ers rookie has to mimic future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the defense in practice.

Lance's development has benefited from imitating opposing quarterbacks all season. Sometimes that is a versatile quarterback like Kyler Murray or Justin Fields. Other times, it is a more stationary passer, like Kirk Cousins.


Lance studying Rodgers this week can only make him a better quarterback.

"Aaron does a real good job of not making bad decisions and not turning the ball over," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters before Tuesday's practice. "But he also makes all the plays downfield whenever you're off just a hair. We need Trey to be very aggressive, let it rip.

"Hopefully, if he does make some mistakes in practice, our defense will catch it and make him pay. But we need him to be aggressive at everything he does because Aaron doesn't miss in many of those opportunities when they're presented to him."

While Lance enjoys mimicking athletic quarterbacks capable of making off-schedule plays, like himself, he acknowledged that there is a benefit to imitating passers who aren't as similar.

"Obviously, I think our D-line is really good, so I appreciate it when I can play kind of how I play, and be off-schedule," Lance said last month. "But when I'm emulating for the defense a quarterback that doesn't move necessarily a lot, and doesn't play off-schedule, I think there's things that I gain from that, for sure. I get used to making different throws that I don't necessarily see myself making. But at the same time, it's good to get those reps."

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