The 49ers are hoping quarterback Trey Lance won’t have to do much of the heavy lifting in his first year as a starter. San Francisco’s roster is good enough that they can take some of the onus off the QB to make plays and instead rely on him to make a couple plays while leaning heavily on a strong run game, good receivers and a stout defense. That talent around Lance was the key to wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s pitch on why fans should believe in Lance.
Samuel was asked by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero to make a pitch to fans about their favorite team’s new QB, and the receiver first pointed to other players.
“I mean, look at the guys around him,” Samuel said. “You have me, Brandon (Aiyuk), Juice (Kyle Juszczyk), Trent (Williams), everybody on offense.”
His answer continued by highlighting how tight-knit the offensive unit is.
“It’s a brotherhood,” he said. “We feed off each other’s energy. So if you see one guy go out there and make a play or somebody getting flat-backed, there’s just an energy boost.”
After that, he finally got to the Lance portion of his response.
“What I’ve been seeing from Trey since I’ve been out here is he’s willing to learn. He’s getting better day by day. I mean, it’s his first year really being the guy on offense. So it’s like, it’s gonna take time. That’s why we have camp and the preseason games, so by the time Week 1 comes we’re gonna be hitting on all cylinders.”
This isn’t a particularly glowing response, but it does accurately reflect where Lance and the 49ers offense is with just over a month left before the regular-season opener.
San Francisco’s offense is loaded, and Lance is very much still in the learning process. Reports from training camp have indicated he’s improved some, but there are still the ups and downs that tend to come with first-time starting quarterbacks.
With Samuel in particular, the learning curve is even greater for Lance since such a small percentage of his limited number of reps as QB1 have come with Samuel on the field. The two are working together to get on the same page though, which is something the WR said would continue.
The key with Samuel’s pitch though is Lance’s willingness to learn and the fact he is getting better as the days roll on. If he was simply treading water and struggling to grasp certain things there would be real reason for worry. Some rookie hiccups can be expected from the second-year quarterback though, especially in training camp.
Ultimately Lance and the 49ers offense will be fine as long as Samuel is correct though and that group is firing on all cylinders by Week 1 in Chicago.
