We have a lot to learn about 49ers quarterback Trey Lance, who figures to be the team’s starter when they open their 2022 campaign in Chicago. 49ers great Steve Young has been working as something of a mentor to Lance, and has high hopes for the former No. 3 overall pick.
Young at an event benefitting the Dwight Clark Foundation earlier in the offseason talked about a quarterback needing to process and then deliver the football to succeed. He told Damon Bruce and Larry Krueger on 95.7 the Game in San Francisco that Lance is already elite at the former, but needs to prove the latter.
“Getting the processing done, finding the right guy, and then delivering it – that’s where Trey needs to prove to all of us that he’s an elite deliverer of the football,” Young said. “I really believe he’s already an elite processor at quarterbacking. Now it’s just, show me that you’re an elite deliverer.”
Lance’s high football IQ was one of the reasons the 49ers traded up to snag him in last year’s draft. At North Dakota State he dominated in part because of his physical tools, but he was also asked to carry a heavy load with his responsibilities at the line of scrimmage.
It’s not a huge surprise that Young has high praise for Lance’s processing ability. The second aspect of a great QB, where they actually deliver the football, is something we won’t know about Lance until we see him get a full season of throws under his belt at the pro level.
The arm strength isn’t in question. He showed off his big arm in the preseason and his couple of starts as a rookie. There’s more to the position than that though. Lance will need to improve his touch and his ball placement, especially on short and intermediate throws. Converting high-percentage looks was something Jimmy Garoppolo thrived at. While the 49ers figure to open up the down-field passing game some, there’ll be far more throws within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage that need to be converted consistently.
Lance may face some obstacles in his first year, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the first handful of weeks are a struggle as he adapts to the speed of the NFL. Once he settles in though we’ll start to get an idea of his trajectory at the position. If he can process at a high level and show at least a tendency to be that elite deliverer Young described – the 49ers might find themselves with one of the league’s top young quarterbacks.
