Getty Trey Lance looks down the field during the 49ers' Week 17 win over the Texans during the 2021 season.
Trey Lance is yet to make his third career start in the NFL, but he emerged as a trendy topic of discussion online in May.
The second-year San Francisco 49ers has been raved about for his arm strength in videos captured and shared online. But he’s also been the subject of criticism for those looking at his arm and diving into his lack of experience.
One veteran NFL insider and columnist, however, addressed the latter in a bold and compelling way on Memorial Day 2022.
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Longtime Insider Makes Telling Suggestions
Peter King of NBC Sports’ has covered countless of legendary quarterbacks — from Peyton Manning, to Tom Brady, to Aaron Rodgers, to going back even further, Steve Young and Joe Montana when both were 49ers.
He’ll soon get his chance to see what Lance is capable of for a full season for the 49ers. However, he’s noticed the internet chatter for Lance during the month of May, which he addressed in his Monday column. King has sent this telling suggestion to anyone who evaluates Lance during this offseason period:
“A little perspective would be nice over the next three months, as Lance is put under the OTA/training-camp microscope,” was one excerpt King wrote. “I would be a little more patient with Lance than the din I hear and read out there.”
King Addresses What ‘Would Alarm’ Him About Lance
King has laid down the analysis law for evaluators online and in the media when scrutinizing Lance by asking for a little perspective and patience.
He did, however, address what does concern him about the 2021 third overall pick.
“The one thing that would alarm me a bit about San Francisco handing the starting quarterback job to Trey Lance is his lack of experience,” King wrote. “It also would keep me from making any grandiose judgments about Lance 13 months after he was drafted by the 49ers.”
Then came this significant stat King brought up that links to his experience concern for Lance.
“In the four football seasons since enrolling at North Dakota State in 2018 — three in college, one in San Francisco — Lance has thrown 389 passes in games,” King wrote. “That’s an average of 97 passes a year. You can look it up: 1, 287 and 30 attempts in his three college seasons, 71 in his his rookie NFL season.”
And after looking it up and doing a fact check on Sports Reference, yes Lance has only thrown the ball more than 100 times in a season just once: The 2019 season that saw him attempt 287 passes. However, that was also the season that saw Lance put up this astonishing stat line: 28 touchdown passes…zero interceptions.
King Also Adds Flaw Analysts Have When it Comes to Young QBs
Sometimes, members of the media — particularly those in the analysis business — tend to call out their own brethren.
In this case for King, he pointed out the one all-too-common trait that he believes is becoming a common mistake among evaluators: Demanding performance right away from young quarterbacks.
“Lance is 22 years old. Not to get all philosophical here, but sometimes, covering football, we cannibalize young players,” King said. “We want quarterbacks drafted high to morph into Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers) by mid-year-one.”
He then dove into the difference between what Lance faced versus what Herbert saw in college.
“Well, Herbert threw 1,273 passes at the highest level of college football (playing at Oregon). Lance threw 318 in FBS competition, a step down from Herbert’s level. Lance has thrown 101 passes, total, in his age 20 and 21 years as a quarterback,” King said. “And now a team that was in the NFL Final Four last year is likely to hand him the ball to start opening day. Likely, but not certain.”
But regardless, count the veteran NFL scribe as one who is board with having more patience with Lance’s development.