49ers Kyle Shanahan Shares Update on Starting QB Battle

49ers starting qb

Getty Jimmy Garoppolo #10 and Trey Lance #5 of the San Francisco 49ers.

At the beginning of training camp, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan reiterated there was no quarterback competition and they believed Jimmy Garoppolo would be the team’s starter come Week 1.

However, that answer changed on Sunday following the Niners’ 15-10 win against the Chargers.

“No, I’m not making that announcement. Nice try, though,” Shanahan said when asked if he was ready to officially name Garoppolo as the starter, via NFL.com.

So, when will he?

Shanahan is keeping fans on the edge of their seats but promises the world will know who the starter is by the season opener against the Detroit Lions on September 12th.

“Whenever I feel like it,” he said. “(When?) It’s hard for me to give a date. It’s based off when we know and when we feel like naming it. I promise it will be by that Sunday.”


Hint: Not Much Has Changed

Back when Shanahan was adamant on Garoppolo starting he noted that he wouldn’t necessarily write off rookie QB Trey Lance, but emphasized how difficult it is to beat out an experienced vet such as Jimmy G.

Garoppolo started on Sunday and went 3 of 6 for 15 yards and an interception. Meanwhile,
Lance ended the night 8 of 14 for 102 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against the Chargers after going 5 of 14 for 128 yards and a touchdown in his preseason debut against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Following Sunday’s win, Shanahan was asked if anything has changed since the beginning of training camp.

“No, I haven’t seen that. I would love for it to be more and more each week, but the situation is pretty similar right now,” he said.

From that, we can assume that Garoppolo is still in the lead, although Lance is pushing.

Either way, Garoppolo isn’t worried and he is a fan of a challenge.

“Kyle always challenges us,” Garoppolo said. “He knows us and how to push guys in certain ways. I’m not too worried about that. I’m trying to get out there now to get ready for the Raiders. We had a productive week against the Chargers, got a lot of good work out of it. There’s so many other things to worry about. (It’s an) I’ll-let-chips-fall-where-they-may type of thing.”


Shanahan Is Impressed With How Lance Handles Himself

When Lance entered the game early in the second quarter Sunday, he got off to a rocky start. He completed just one of his first six passes (9 yards) with an interception top with a sack.

While some criticized Lance’s ups and downs, Shanahan praised how he overcame them:

“I just liked how he responded throughout it,” Shanahan said via 49erswebzone.com. Trey has played a lot of football in the last year or so. I think he’s thrown one interception since high school. To watch him go out there and throw a pick, to have a couple of close, those are some things that he isn’t used to. And I know it got him down pretty bad, but to watch him go out there and recover was nice for me to see because I haven’t seen him have to play through much stuff like that watching all of his college tape. He didn’t throw pick until his one game in the COVID year. So, to be able to see him do that on this stage and to do it out there and be able to leave him out there for a few series and let him kind of fight through that, I really think eventually after that he started getting his best rhythm that he’s been in these two games.”

Lance will get one last preseason showing against the Raiders on Sunday.

READ NEXT:

Read More
,