Well, they still have Jimmy G, and who knows, they might keep him as insurance. At any rate, the Trey Lance thing is interesting. The media have practically all decided he is a bust. Based on a few hints here and there about him ‘not being ready.’ I dunno. What if he ‘is’ an upgrade over Jimmy G? Imagine that beastly 49er team we saw last year, with a slight upgrade at QB. The 49ers are a kind of wild-card. All depends on Trey.
The “Trey is maybe not working out” narrative is pretty sketchy, from what I gather from NoCal radio. And it’s based on what “insiders” were saying last season. All I’m hearing is a report that coaches were somewhat disappointed in his development last season. There were no claims made as to whether it was learning the playbook, execution, or whatever. But it’s a bit premature to bury his prospects, imo.
Furthermore, the 9ers tried to trade Garappolo, or at least were reported to be interested in doing so, but did not get their price. If that is true, then the 9ers felt that at a certain price (2 second-rd picks or more is what they allegedly wanted), they would have taken a deal, saved some cap space, and proceeded with Lance. That, at least, speaks to a willingness to go with Lance this year. They wouldn’t do that without a level of confidence. They were in the NFC Championship last year, and made it to the SB before with JimmyG in the past. Why would they deliberately make themselves worse? You don’t turn the keys over to an unqualified driver when your team is on the cusp.
So I think the Lance will have to beat out JG straight up, or at least give the coaches reason to think he’s on the road to eclipsing JG, or else they keep Garappolo another year.
Either way, the 9ers should not be ranked at 24. IMO, they are closer to #10 than they are to #24.
But let’s just tee it up, and find out.
