Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers have taken every opportunity over the past several months to prop up Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback.
On the surface, this seemed to be a bit odd given that San Francisco exhausted two future first-round picks from move up to the third selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, ultimately selecting QB Trey Lance from North Dakota State.
With Lance showing out big time during training camp and in his preseason debut, the focus in Santa Clara is now turning to whether the small-school product actually has a chance to be San Francisco’s Week 1 starter.
Usually coy when it comes to speaking to the media, Shanahan seemingly changed his tune following th 49ers’ joint practice with the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday. His remarks were eye-opening.
“They’re (Garoppolo, Lance) competing their ass off. They’re doing a good job,” Shanahan told reporters. “It’s not about one guy versus the other guy. It’s about how good can Trey be, how good can Jimmy be. I think both of them, when you go through camp, you go through games you go through practices — it’s up and down throughout the whole thing. So that’s why I don’t sit and [say] who’s ahead of the other, what’s going on after each practice. They both bring different elements to our team. Both of them, I believe, can play at a high level and I’m trying to see which one does that the best for us.”
This is a far cry from remarks Shanahan made less than a month ago.
“There’s no open competition right now,” Shanahan told reporters back in late July before saying that Garoppolo is “the best quarterback in the building at the moment.”
Lance completed just 5-of-14 passes in his preseason debut against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, that included an 80-yard touchdown strike to Trent Sherfield and another 34-yard pass to tight end Charlie Woerner out of his own end zone.
As for Garoppolo, he played just one possession to open the game. The veteran quarterback completed all three of his attempts for 26 yards without stretching the field like we saw from Lance later in the game.
That’s the biggest thing when it comes to what now appears to be an open competition for the 49ers’ starting quarterback job. Despite being incredibly raw and having a lot to work on, Lance adds another dimension to San Francisco’s offense. That came out in droves last week against Kansas City.
For now, there’s absolutely no guarantee that Garoppolo will be starting once the regular season opens up against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 12.
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