The 2021 San Francisco 49ers are Jimmy Garoppolo’s team. At this point, that much is clear.
But does it really have to be 100 percent of the time? After trading three first-round picks for Trey Lance, Kyle Shanahan has completely abandoned using the rookie quarterback, scrapping the packages we saw earlier in the season.
Shanahan has said that this is because subbing in Lance was messing with his play-calling rhythm. That may be true, and it does seem like Shanahan’s play calling has gotten better since Lance stopped playing, but that doesn’t make the situation any less head scratching for former 49ers’ quarterback Steve Young.
“Why is Trey not capable of getting on the field?” Young rhetorically asked Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks on Wednesday. “I’m not saying starting. Where we started the year was we had some packages, I want to see him play, he’s a different dynamic, he can be really great in the red zone. Why is he shut down?”
Part of Young’s confusion has to do with the fact that he believes making Lance sit is a waste. That was his experience sitting behind Joe Montana waiting for his shot in the mid-80s. For Young, the idea that sitting and learning from a veteran QB is a valuable experience, is largely a myth.
“First of all, you learn by watching. I get that,” Young said. “But for me, for my career, for me, those were lost years. What I learned (while) watching was amazing, but I didn’t need those years. I look at those as kind of maybe (needing) one year to kind of really get a handle on things, but those are lost years for me.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks weekdays from 2 – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.