© Tim Heitman | 2020 Jan 11
If there is pressure on Trey Lance to look incredible immediately, it’s not coming from 49ers’ owner Jed York.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area, York said he’d be comfortable with Lance sitting his rookie year, and the next year as well, provided the team is successful with Jimmy Garoppolo as their quarterback. Based on his analysis of Garoppolo, York believes this scenario is a possibility.
“We’ve talked about this internally,” York said on 49ers Talk. “If we’re in a situation where Jimmy goes out and takes us to a Super Bowl again and has an MVP-caliber season, and does it again, there are worse dilemmas to be in. And Jimmy certainly has the ability to do that.
“Knowing it’s the most important position in sports, and it’s great to have a guy that you do believe in and has gotten you to a Super Bowl. So you don’t have to put the weight of the world on a rookie, whoever it was we were going to choose. And now that we know Trey is here, you don’t have to put the weight of the world on that kid’s shoulders. And he can grow into that position.”
It’s a narrative that Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have been pushing for months, telling the media that they are committed to Garoppolo as their starter while acknowledging they needed to improve the long-term future of the position. It’s also a narrative that much of the media hasn’t been buying, with many reports claiming that the 49ers have been shopping Garoppolo since before they drafted Lance, and that he would not be on their Week 1 roster.
But remember, a lot of reports also said it was a near-certainty that the 49ers would draft Mac Jones, and that sure as hell didn’t happen.
Even if York has to pay Garoppolo for the next two years (about $50 million) the longterm financial outlook for the team would still be positive in his eyes.
“And even if he (Lance) doesn’t play for two years, we still have an extra $100 million to put back into our team on top of whatever we would have for free agency for the next five years,” York said.
“It’s really an investment in the team of how do you want to build this thing.”
Finally, York compared the situation to Aaron Rodgers’ first few years in Green Bay.
“If (Lance) doesn’t play until he’s 23 (he’s 21 right now), but he’s got a 15-plus year career …” York said of Lance. “There were rumors about a guy, and obviously Kyle talked about trading for Aaron. How long did Aaron sit? Two or three years before he played? And, again, I want to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure that position is the best it can possibly be in the NFL.”