Barring what would be an absolutely shocking 11th-hour development, the San Francisco 49ers will not even entertain the idea of going back to veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo even though 2021 rookie Trey Lance somewhat underwhelmed in his first preseason atop the club’s depth chart.
Per Fox Sports’ stats, Lance ended the exhibition portion of the calendar with 11 completions on 16 attempts for 141 yards and a touchdown. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made it clear after Thursday’s preseason finale against the Houston Texans that he wasn’t overreacting to anything that occurred in a “dumb” meaningless warmup, but he suggested Friday he’d prefer for the 22-year-old to have some additional time to prepare for the Week 1 contest at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11.
“I would love to get Trey more practice and everything, more experience,” Shanahan explained during a media conference call, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. “I would always want more of that, but we’ve run out of those games, and he’s as ready to go as he can be. He needs to get in these real games now and start playing.
“There’s going to be times he makes some mistakes, and he’s got to learn from them and find a way to still win the game and overcome some of those things as he learns on the run.”
While serving as Garoppolo’s primary backup last season, Lance attempted only 71 passes. He completed 41 of those throws (57.7%) for 603 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions and added 168 rushing yards and a score on 38 attempts.
“I’m glad he did get some experience in this preseason,” Shanahan continued during his comments. “I always wish he could have gotten more, but I am glad that he came out healthy this year, where last year, he came out with that broken [finger] that did affect him.”
As for Garoppolo, it seems likely the 49ers will cut him at some point before the $24.2 million base salary he’s owed for 2022 becomes guaranteed. It’s expected that the division-rival Seattle Seahawks will at least contact Garoppolo once he hits the open market.
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