Steve Young knows a thing or two about learning from a veteran quarterback. Probably far more than he would like.
Young famously sat behind Joe Montana for the better part of four seasons after he was acquired by the 49ers in 1987. Anyone who has watched the new Montana documentary on Peacock knows that Young wasn’t thrilled about this, but that he also learned a ton about the quarterback position from sharing a locker room with Montana.
The same could be said about the Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo situation in San Francisco this year. While Garoppolo is no Montana, Lance could have done worse than learning the ins-and-outs of how to be a pro from Garoppolo, especially considering the lack of game experience the 21-year-old has.
Garoppolo is almost surely gone next season, but Young believes the 49ers should bring in another veteran quarterback to help Lance’s transition as the starter.
“I think Trey’s going to be so raw,” Young on KNBR. “ … It should be very obvious to all of us that just the pure number of snaps, metering the position … all of it, you figure out in college from playing football games. That it didn’t happen very much [for Lance]. … We’re going to witness his growth.
“And who’s going to do the growth? I’m a big fan of putting someone around you who can push you. So, I’m not looking to not do that. But more than anything, he needs someone older who can tell him ‘this matters’ or ‘this doesn’t matter.’ … Teach him how to study. How to memorize. How to be reflective recall. So that everything that comes out of him is reflective, and he doesn’t have to think about it.”
Young believes if the 49ers getting great play from the QB position, they’ll be in the Super Bowl.
“This is a team, this is a roster, that can win Super Bowls,” Young said. “You’ve seen it. We should be the best passing game, the best running game. Those middle nine defenders we have? Top of the league.
“Take a few months off, let’s go do this.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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