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New Orleans Saints quarterback legend and future Hall of Famer Drew Brees announced his retirement from the NFL last season, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing him regularly.
In fact, he’ll be behind the scenes calling a preseason game for NBC Sports when the San Francisco 49ers take on the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, August 21.
Brees made an appearance at the teams’ joint practices leading up to the contest and offered some unsolicited advice to Niners’ starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and first-round rookie Trey Lance.
“Stay in the moment,” Brees simply said while talking to Garoppolo, via San Francisco Chronicle’s Eric Branch. “Play your butt off.”
Garoppolo saw limited action last weekend but he made it count, completing all three of his attempts to Deebo Samuel, Trey Sermon and Josh Hokit for a combined 26 yards.
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Brees Offers Insight Into Lance’s Mindset
The conversation with Lance went a little different since he had already crossed paths with Garoppolo in the past.
Instead of throwing out advice, he picked the rookie’s brain.
“I’ve met Jimmy a few times, so there was more of a relationship there,” Brees said. “Meeting Lance, I was trying to learn more about him and what his mindset’s been coming into camp. For (Lance), it’s nothing to lose, everything to gain. It’s his first time stepping into camp.
“Yes, there are high expectations and all that stuff, but every day for him is going to be a learning experience. And it’s probably going to be that for a while, for a guy who played at North Dakota State and played only 17 games in college. There’s still so much to be experienced for a guy like him.”
Lance finished his first preseason game against Kansas City going 5 for 14 for 128 yards. His stats could have looked better, however, his receivers dropped three passes. He was also close to throwing two interceptions and recovered his own fumble on one of his four sacks taken.
49ers GM John Lynch: Lance Is Catching Garroppolo
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan has been adamant that Garoppolo will start in Week 1.
However, 49ers general manager John Lynch recently made an appearance on KNBR’s Murph & Mac Show to give his own insight.
While he made it clear that Shanahan gets the final call, he did share that Lance might not be too far behind at taking Jimmy G.’s job
“That’s up to Kyle. That’s up to our head coach,” Lynch said on August 13. “He makes the decisions on who’s playing and what not. But I think it’s Jimmy’s right now and Trey’s pushing. I think that’s where it’s at.”
While it seemed unclear if the 49ers’ knew exactly what they were doing when they traded up nine spots for the NDSU product, it’s clear now.
“He’s been awesome,” said Lynch. “He’s been everything we thought he would be and more. He was good from day one when he walked in here in the offseason, and I think a testament to what we thought he was and his work ethic.”
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