3-Time Super Bowl Champ Calls for 49ers to Make QB Change

Trey Lance

Getty Trey Lance warms up before the 49ers took on the Cardinals on Sunday, November 7.

A former rival of the San Francisco 49ers is now making a suggestion to the ‘Niners: Make a change at quarterback.

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, whose Cowboys engaged in epic battles for NFC supremacy during the early 1990s, appeared on the “Damon & Ratto” show and called for S.F to turn to rookie first-rounder Trey Lance over Jimmy Garoppolo.

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“I don’t care how the rest of it goes or how you want to play the rest of it out, the rest of it must involve Trey Lance getting reps,” Irvin said on the show. “You can say that no matter what. Right now, I don’t care what the game is, how it’s going, where it is, we’re going to get him some reps. That’s a statement I think they should be making and that’s a direction they should be going.”


What ‘The Playmaker’ Sees in Lance

Irvin, who won three Super Bowls and beat the 49ers twice in the 1993 and 1994 NFC title game, says he’s a fan of Lance’s athleticism at quarterback.

“When I see him, because he’s such a superior athlete, those superior athletes have always relied on their athletic ability and have always been better than people,” Irvin said. “I see him as an extremely confident person.”

Irvin then compared Lance’s confidence to what he’s seen from rookie linebacker Micah Parsons on his old team.

“The kind of confidence I would (compare to) Micah Parsons for Dallas. He brings a certain attitude to that Dallas defense, to that Dallas locker room. He’s a young guy. You have a bad game, you don’t worry about ‘breaking him,’ bad games will build him. Honestly, I don’t think you have to worry about that with Trey Lance,” Irvin said.

It’s not the first time “The Playmaker” has taken a liking to the rookie from North Dakota State.

Before Lance took his first NFL snaps versus the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5, Irvin went on the NFL network endorsing Lance.

“Those stats of Kyle Shanahan’s record, those don’t adequately really depict the situation because he had some bad quarterbacks and he kept them in the game,” Irvin said. “Those bad quarterbacks he was in games in and had chances to win. But this is not a backup talent. This is exactly why they got Trey Lance. This is why they inserted him. I’m anxious to see what he does.”

Also, on the September 20 edition of “Damon & Ratto,” Irvin called Lance a “special talent.”

“The special talent this kid has…if you can insert that talent into games, you HAVE to do that to move forward. Not just for this year, but to get the kid experience so he’s ready to take over,” Irvin said on that episode.

And, Back on April 30, he went on the same show gushing over the Lance pick to 49er fans.


Irvin Has Seen This Before as a Player

The Hall of Famer Irvin himself is no stranger to playing with a high-profile rookie quarterback.

Back in 1989, he was a second-year receiver on a Cowboys team that had a former first rounder named Troy Aikman. The first overall pick went on to start ahead of veteran Steve Walsh that season, but Dallas finished 1-15 overall. After that season, though, Aikman, Irvin and the rest of the Cowboys went on to capture three Vince Lombardi trophies.

Garoppolo, though, threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns despite the 31-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, November 7. Garoppolo has had back-to-back 300-yard games for the 49ers despite the team sitting at 3-5 overall.

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