Sooner or later, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has to name a starter for Week 1. He can either go with a proven veteran in Jimmy Garoppolo or a potential-packed gunslinger in Trey Lance.
Although the regular season is only a few weeks away, Shanahan isn’t quite ready to reveal which quarterback he’s going with for a Week 1 showdown with the Detroit Lions.
What Shanahan is willing to share, however, is an update on how Garoppolo and Lance look in training camp. Apparently, the 49ers’ quarterbacks are performing very well during joint practices with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“They’re competing their ass off. They’re doing a good job,” Shanahan said, via ProFootballTalk “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.”
Lance didn’t receive many first-team reps this Thursday, leading many people to believe that his chances of winning the starting job are very slim.
Shanahan revealed that Lance could get an extended look with the first-string offense on Friday. That’s because he wants to see how the third overall pick looks against elite opponents.
“If I do [put him in], it’ll be more trying to get him some reps against [Joey] Bosa and Derwin [James] and some of those other guys, too, because there’s definitely a difference,” Shanahan told reporters.
Lance will need to light up the Chargers’ defense on Friday if he wants to close the gap between him and Garoppolo.
The 49ers will take on the Chargers on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium.
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