49ers Icon Offers Guidance to Trey Lance During QB Debacle: ‘Own It’

Getty Trey Lance versus the Houston Texans in Week 17 of the 2021 season.

A San Francisco 49ers legend had a few wise words to offer second-year quarterback Trey Lance as talk surrounding the North Dakota State alumni simmers to a boil as the 2022 season draws near.

Bryant Young, former defensive tackle for the 49ers, offered up some sound advice for Lance who is finding himself and Jimmy Garoppolo in the middle of a quandary regarding a looming question: Will Lance will be the starting quarterback for San Francisco come the start of the season?

“Be Very Confident.”

Young, who was a defender for the ‘Niners for the entirety of his 14 years in the NFL, appeared on KNBR’s Murph & Mac show on Wednesday, May 11 and had a few wise words for the 22-year-old.

“He’s a big kid,” Young said. “I got a chance to meet him at the 49ers Foundation event earlier in the year. Not only is he a big, athletic kid with a strong arm, but just a great personality, good character young man.

“For him, I would just say, ‘Be very confident.’ For me, when I walked up to the line, I knew my opponent in terms of the guys that I would battle with, one-on-one, offensive linemen-wise. I knew what I was up against facing that group. But when I had a confident quarterback coming up to the line of scrimmage, that’s another problem.

“I would just say, ‘Own it. Be confident. Trust the process. And just trust all the tools that are around you.’ They’re going to put him in a great position to win ball games and make incredible plays. He has the talent. I’m looking forward to it. He’s going to have a bright future.”

Advice From Sherman

Plenty of NFL insiders and former players have been witnessing the situation in the Bay unfold and have been vocal about who they believe will be the starting quarterback come next season, including former 49ers cornerback, Richard Sherman, who expressed his thoughts on where he thinks both Lance and Garoppolo will land at the start of next season.

According to Sherman, Garoppolo will still be with the team — but utilized in a different fashion.

“I think he’ll be more of a safety valve, and a really expensive safety valve, but safety all the same,” Sherman said of Garoppolo on his podcast on Tuesday, May 10. “I think they’re going to give Trey Lance an opportunity to start in ball games. I think they want to see it.”

Sherman went on to project that Lance won’t “play a ton” during the preseason and that neither will Garoppolo in order to avoid injury

“I don’t know if either of them will play in preseason,” he said. “It’s not worth the injury risk to Jimmy G with his cap number, and it’s not worth the injury risk to the guy who you want to start.”

The 30-year-old Garoppolo is still with the 49ers and it’s up in the air whether he will be traded to a team in need of a veteran quarterback – a group that is dwindling with each passing day after Seahawks Pete Carroll said in a May 5 interview with Sports Radio 93.3 KJR-FM that he “doesn’t see” Seattle trading for a quarterback before the start of the season.

“I don’t see us making a trade for anybody at all,” Carroll said. “I don’t see that happening.”