Former Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana, who also won four Super Bowls with the 49ers, isn’t on board with how San Francisco is handling their quarterback situation this offseason.
The overwhelming expectation is the 49ers will trade Jimmy Garoppolo and hand the keys to the offense to 2021 No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance. Montana wouldn’t pull the trigger on that strategy though.
He told the Ringer’s Kevin Clark on an episode of Slow News Day that he’d keep Garoppolo because he doesn’t like what he’s seen from Lance, and some of Lance’s teammates agree.
“I think you keep Jimmy until you find somebody else,” Montana said from Radio Row in Los Angeles before the Super Bowl. “I don’t think Trey’s ready to play yet, myself. And after talking to some of the players it’s one of those things that – if you can keep Jimmy healthy he plays well enough to get you here.”
It’s not a huge surprise Montana is averse to trading a veteran starter to make way for the heir apparent given that that’s how he wound up in Kansas City for his final two seasons.
The notable thing here is that he said some 49ers players don’t believe Lance is ready to start. There are several 49ers players cruising around LA during Super Bowl week so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities Montana ran into some of them and talked about Lance.
Lance’s readiness at the end of the 2021 season doesn’t matter. He’ll get a full offseason to prepare as the QB1 and then valuable game reps to help move his development along. If the 49ers do it right he should be much closer to ready by kickoff of the 2022 season than he was during the NFC championship game.
Ultimately the chances the 49ers do keep Garoppolo are very slim given the salary cap implications and the way Garoppolo ended his end-of-season press conference. Hopefully Montana doesn’t turn his back further on the 49ers organization for not heeding his advice.
