USA TODAY Sports
The proliferation of young quarterbacks who can use their skills to craft on the fly a second play when the first play isn’t working has prompted 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan to change his approach when it comes to the men who run his offense.
Shanahan no longer wants a quarterback who does exactly what Shanahan wants with the play that’s called, an automaton who takes a precise drop, makes precise reads, and throws the ball with perfect timing and precision to the open receiver. Shanahan, perhaps haunted by his decision to dismiss less structured players like Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, wants a quarterback who can make chicken salad when the play that’s called goes to shit.
Trey Lance, the player in whom the 49ers invested the 12th overall pick in 2021, two more first-round picks, and a third-round pick, makes his on-field debut against the Chiefs on Saturday night, a Super Bowl LIV rematch and a reminder of the differences between the kind of player Shanahan used to want and one of the quarterbacks on whom he passed in the 2017 draft. Shanahan discussed the plan for Lance’s first NFL appearance with reporters on Thursday.
“Hopefully he gets around 30 [plays] or something, but you never know how that will go,” Shanahan said, leaving the door open for Lance potentially playing into the second half in order to get the desired number of reps. The goal is for Lance to begin to learn how football works when not wearing a no-touch jersey.
“You try to make it as real football . . . as there is, so I mean, definitely. I don’t want him sitting there playing like its seven on seven all day,” Shanahan said. “That’s why I don’t like seven on seven because I’m telling them to get rid of the ball, but there’s no pass rush. I also want him, if no one’s open, to hold onto it until the pass rush gets there. I also want him to, if there’s a lane, not to hesitate to break. So, you try to generate that as much as possible. You just want him to play real. If a guy’s about to hit him, you don’t want him to just sit there and take hitches because they’re not going to hit him and then just throw it late and have a big play. No, that was a sack if that happens. I hope he knows where to get rid of it or I hope he scrambles. If we block well, I hope he makes the play that’s presented to him. So, it’s just trying to give him reps of really doing everything and when it gets to the game it’s a lot realer. We’ll see if they tackle him. We’ll see if he scrambles. We’ll see how he hangs in there.”
The “we’ll see” approach is a very different one for Shanahan, who has spent years carefully constructing plays and believing that if they are run exactly as designed, there’s no “we’ll see” about it. They will work. (Usually, he’s right.)
Now, Shanahan is making a mid-career embrace of improvisation. Which opens the door for contact and, in turn, injury. So how much time does Shanahan spend preaching to Lance the importance of avoiding taking big hits?
“I mean, you mention it every time,” Shanahan said. “I mean every time that you evaluate a run, you always talk about ‘All right, how would you protect yourself here? How are you going down? Are you going for more or are you sliding? Are you going head first or are you stepping out of bounds?’ I don’t ever want a guy in practice to practice diving or sliding. You don’t want to hurt a wrist or get your feet caught in an awkward way. That’s something we’re all going to see in the game. Trey says the right things. He’s a pretty good runner. He’s pretty competitive. So, I hope he takes my word for it, but sometimes those guys don’t believe how hard people hit and then they get hit a couple of times in NFL they’re like ‘All right, now I know what you’re talking about.’”
Beyond the pass-or-run decision-making process, Shanahan is looking forward to seeing how Lance operates the offense, basically on his own.
“I want to see him take command of the huddle,” Shanahan said. “There actually will be a play clock out there. Just being aware of that. You know, sometimes you get comfortable when you miss a play call or something. We can always rehuddle and I’ll give it to you again, but I’m not going to be able to talk after 15 seconds and it’s going to be silent and what are we going to do? And how quick do we get it to the line and execute it? And it’s also tough when you’re playing with a lot of guys who it’s their first time, too. So, you’ve got to help people out a little bit, but he’s going to have a lot on his plate and I’m just excited to see how he handles it.”
The guy that the 49ers initially were believed to want, Mac Jones, handled it well on Thursday night. That raises the stakes for Shanahan and Lance, because if Lance struggles to show proper command of the offense, some will begin mentioning that, in lieu of giving up so much to move up and get Lance, the 49ers could have stayed put and gotten Jones.
