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We’re only in the second week of training camp, but that first day feels like a month ago. Already, Trey Lance has gone from an interesting rookie to perhaps the best quarterback on the team, and without question the most practically talented.
Trey Lance will get first team reps
On Friday, Kyle Shanahan said that Lance will both play for the 49ers situationally in the regular season and will get first team reps.
What a shocker. It’s incredible how little time it took from Lance to go from roughly categorized as a *rookie who’s just getting his feet wet* to *not competing, but definitely playing this season.*
It took four days — four — in order for Kyle Shanahan to go from saying he didn’t have plans to get Trey Lance first team reps to confirming that he will. Let’s recap the change in statements from Shanahan.
On August 2, Shanahan said the following when asked if he planned to give Lance first team reps:
“I haven’t planned that at all.”
On August 3, Shanahan gave Lance his one and only rep thus far with the first-team offense against the first-team defense on a zone read.
“A certain run went in that we wanted all the O-Lines to get blocking with, so we made sure all the O-Line got it,” Shanahan said. “But it’s not a play that you’re doing with all the quarterbacks.”
Today, August 6, Shanahan said Lance will get first team reps and will play this season.
“Trey’s going to play for us this year,” Shanahan said. “I know you guys are running to Twitter on that, but I mean that situationally he is going to get plays. That doesn’t mean that he’s going to go be a starter. He’s going to get plays and you’ve got to prepare him for that every way possible… Trey will get reps with the ones. That doesn’t mean just the competition’s open. It means I want him to get some reps with the one O-Line.”
Folks, it’s happening. And if the current course continues, it’s probably sooner rather than later.
This is coming after one of Lance’s worse practices on Friday when he had two fumbles on failed exchanges with Wayne Gallman, an underthrown deep ball which was completed to Travis Benjamin, a ball thrown well behind George Kittle on a slant, two overthrows high, and Lance’s offense struggled in move-the-ball drills.
But as you watched all of that, there is still this looming big picture, which is that we’re not even at the first preseason game and Lance has flashed transcendental talent. Saying he flashed it might even be a mischaracterization, because he’s been pretty consistent.
The current concerns are the exchanges with running backs and his timing with receivers, especially Kittle. We also have yet to see him throw against the first-team defense; the challenge of facing Fred Warner, Jason Verrett and Jimmie Ward could reveal some flaws we’re perhaps missing. But again, the kid looks a lot older than his age, and even the flaws mentioned will be ironed out over time; he’s already shown he can be the best quarterback on this team, this season.
Dee Ford’s long road to recovery
We didn’t know if we’d ever see Dee Ford on a football field again. He sustained a sudden back injury last season — related to two surgeries he’s had on his lower back — and missed all but the first game of the season.
Ford worked prolifically to rebuild himself, effectively living at the 49ers’ practice facility according to Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. He’s been practicing daily and participating in 11-on-11s, looking at the very least like he can be a useful player. That’s a far cry from last season, when there were whispers of retirement.
Those whispers sure as hell weren’t coming from Ford, though. Asked whether he considered retirement, he wasn’t vague.
“Hell nah. No,” Ford said. “I put in too much work. I haven’t put my best ball on tape yet. This is my life.”
The injury itself was bizarre, with Ford saying it “came out of nowhere” and that the team initially believed it was simple inflammation. He didn’t go into exact details about what the injury was, but gave a generalized overview.
“We wasn’t sure if it was a disc problem, was it a chronic problem? It was a little bit of everything,” Ford said. “We did think it was the upper spine but it’s all connected. The issue started it with the lower, it affected the upper. So it’s kind of like a chain effect.”
The initial timeline for his recovery was five weeks. Then 10 weeks. Then 15.
That time quickly stacked up and made for an arduous process for Ford to get back. He spent most of his days working on mobility and stability, going through myriad stretches and physical therapy exercises to stretch and strengthen his back.
The toughest point, he said, was in Arizona. Mike McGlinchey told KNBR over the summer that he felt his worst in that period, too. It was a dark time for the 49ers; players were unable to leave their room except to play football or receive treatment, all while knowing that they’d effectively been knocked out of the playoffs, essentially stranded away from home.
“Really, it was having to look my teammates in the eyes and I couldn’t help,” Ford said. “I couldn’t do anything.”
Ford credited his family and support system — also mentioning journaling and music — for getting him through it. Having dealt with back issues in college and with the Chiefs, along with multiple quad and knee injuries, it would be understandable for Ford to have been fed up with the rehab process. But he said he never got frustrated.
“I love what I do,” Ford said. “I had no excuses. As long as I could keep doing it, as long as I wasn’t risking anything, I was going to give it a shot. That’s how I roll.”
Other notes: Injury roundup, roster moves and exchange issues
- Injury roundup: Arik Armstead, Zach Kerr, Samson Ebukam and Kentavius Street all missed practice on Friday. It’s believed to be day-to-day groin injuries for Armstead and Kerr, but it’s unclear what Ebukam and Street are dealing with.
- Roster moves: Anthony Zettel surprisingly retired on Friday, resulting in the 49ers signing Davin Bellamy, another defensive end, to his spot. San Francisco also activated receiver Jauan Jennings, corner Emmanuel Moseley and safety Jaquiski Tartt from the Reserve/Covid-19 List. Tartt, though, has been placed on the physically unable to perform list.
- Exchange issues: There have been at least four or five fumbled exchanges between Trey Lance and running backs in training camp thus far, almost all on zone reads, and at least three of which have been with Wayne Gallman, and one with Trey Sermon. Gallman said improving requires a better understanding of what the quarterback is reading, but kept his answer vague on what went wrong. Sermon said it’s about “tempo” throughout the exchange; in theory, it’s a fixable issue that will improve as Lance gets more comfortable with his backs, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.