We won’t see the 49ers on the field again until late July. But in the few weeks they reconvened at 49ers headquarters over the past few weeks, Trey Lance has taken on the QB1 role in earnest.
Without Jimmy Garoppolo around, Lance took all the starters’ reps and looked much more comfortable on the field and at the podium discussing the situation.
NBC Sports’ Matt Maiocco joined Murph & Mac on Wednesday to discuss the Lance situation and he was wildly impressed with what he saw at OTAs and minicamp.
“I just don’t know how things could have gone better,” Maiocco said. “I mean, he looks the part, both physically, on the field, and just body language and leadership off the field. I just I don’t know how this offseason could have gone any better for him.”
Maiocco pointed to the fact that every 49ers player asked about Lance raved about him.
He acknowledged that while the team could have encouraged players to toe the line and talk up their new quarterback, he sensed a sincerity in the praise, especially from the likes of Kyle Juszczyk and Charvarius Ward calling him “QB1.”
As far as Lance’s likelihood of starting and whether Garoppolo sticks around, Maiocco referred to Kyle Shanahan’s comments. Maiocco doesn’t expect Garoppolo back on this team.
“I go back to what Kyle Shanahan said two weeks ago. He said that he still expects Jimmy Garoppolo to be traded before the start of the season. So, if he expects Jimmy Garoppolo to be traded, that means he expects Jimmy Garoppolo to not be on the team, which then means of course that he expects Trey Lance to be the starter. So everybody expects Trey Lance to be the starter.”
“I would suspect that Jimmy Garoppolo has walked through the doors of 4949 Marie P. DeBartolo Way for the final time… [His future,] it’s certainly not with the 49ers.”
That leaves Lance, as expected, as the starter.
His on-field attributes were impressive, but it was the demeanor that showed up.
“He has a strong arm he can get the ball down the field,” Maiocco said. “But to me just the leadership and the body language, the way he carries himself. He looks like a starter. So again, I would say I don’t know how the offseason and again this is no prediction on how the season’s gonna go once he starts playing meaningful football games, but I don’t know how the offseason could have gotten any better for him.”
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.
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