49ers’ Trey Lance dazzles in first padded practice; Shanahan still tepid in praise
.jpg "San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo throw during training camp in Santa Clara on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.")
Trey Lance felt the pass rush from his right, shuffled outside the pocket to his left and saw receiver Trent Sherfield streaking up the left side of the field.
Lance, the rookie quarterback taken by the 49ers’ with the No. 3 overall pick, decided not to set his feet, instead continuing to roll to his left, a difficult platform to throw from for right-handed quarterbacks.
He maintained his balanced and flicked his wrist, leading Sherfield upfield with a deep throw. It looked overcooked at first blush. Sherfield needed to cover significant ground just to get his hands on the pass.
Sherfield sprinted, reached up over his shoulder and caught it in stride without needing to fully extend his arms. He cruised for the easy touchdown behind the second string defense, with Lance’s throw drawing the loudest cheer yet from the fans allowed to watch the practice.
“Trey made a great read,” Sherfield said afterward. “Just read the defense really well. … Trey threw an awesome ball for me to make a play.”
It was another productive practice for Lance after making waves during Saturday’s session when head coach Kyle Shanahan decided to unlock the rookie’s legs with both designed runs and scrambles.
Tuesday also marked the first padded practice of camp, which is generally when the intensity gets elevated and physicality escalates. Lance responded by completing 13 of 14 passes, with his lone incompletion coming on the last play of the day.
“Trey Lance, he’s a baller,” Sherfield said later. “He can play.”
The throw was easily the most impressive of camp made by either Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo, who remains in the catbird seat for the starting job.
Though the play also came three snaps after Lance was given his first rep with the starters during full-team drills, a designed quarterback run.
In summation: Lance completed 93% of his throws in team drills during his first padded NFL practice and received his first rep with the starters.
Still, Shanahan said afterward he didn’t necessarily believe Lance had the type of practice that could lead to more first-team reps going forward.
Keep in mind, this came roughly 24 hours after he said he didn’t have plans on getting Lance any reps with the starters before giving Lance one on Tuesday.
“No, I don’t really look at it like that,” when asked if Lance was earning more first-team reps. “I thought he had a decent day. I thought he did good with his reps, not perfect. But we’re just evaluating everybody right now, but not looking at it like that.”
Shanahan continued: “I think since OTAs, he’s put a lot of work into it and I think it’s gotten better each day. I think that will continue to happen the more he plays and the more he works at it.”
Garoppolo, meanwhile, had a relatively nondescript day completing 11 of 18 throws, unofficially, against the starting defense. He worked in more traditional plays than Lance, who had eight runs, with the vast majority coming on designed zone-reads with a couple of scrambles.
Lance’s most notable snafu of the afternoon was a botched handoff to reserve running back Wayne Gallman. It appeared the fumble was recovered by defensive tackle Zach Kerr.
There were still procedural issues for the first- and second-team offenses. The team’s attacking defensive line, led by position coach Kris Kocurek, prides itself on exploding up-field as soon as the ball is snapped, which has caused the offensive line to create a bad habit of reacting too early.
“I think there’s obviously some things we got to shore up,” Garoppolo said. “Cadence, too many penalties. Having the refs out here’s been good just to have shine a light on it. There’s things for us to clean up.”
Changing up the cadence (snap count) has been an emphasis for both Garoppolo and Lance. Shoring it up will be important once the regular season starts with fans expected to be back in stadiums throughout the league.
“D-line’s been playing great, they really have,” said Garoppolo. “We’ve been mixing it up a decent amount. I think honing in and everyone getting on the same page, I think once we can do that it will really take us to the next level.”
Said Shanahan: “Those guys tee off. If we don’t change the cadence up a ton, they’re going to be in our backfield.”
The 49ers on Tuesday were without receiver Deebo Samuel, who is dealing with minor groin soreness, Shanahan said, and he was given the day to work out on the side field.
Samuel’s had a strong start to training camp after his 2020 campaign was washed out by foot and hamstring injuries. He’s been making catches at all levels of the field after injuries kept his practice time to a minimum last season when he had just 33 catches in seven games.
That led to more action for second-year player Brandon Aiyuk, who had another impressive practice with six catches. Sherfield added five, solidifying his chances at becoming a lock for the 53-man roster given his work on special teams.
Speaking of receivers, Jalen Hurd received full-team reps for the first time in training camp. He wasn’t targeted in the passing game, but just getting into the mix was a step for the third-year pro who had his last two seasons derailed by back surgery and a torn ACL, respectively. Hurd was given Saturday and Monday’s practices off surrounding Sunday’s off day.
Dee Ford looking spry
Pass rusher Dee Ford received work in full-team drills for the second straight day and flashed the speed off the edge that drew the 49ers to him when they traded for him in 2019. Ford, of course, played in only one game last year due to troublesome back issues and was a question mark heading into training camp.
Ford had a would-be sack of Garoppolo and kept up with Lance on a running play to keep him from breaking up the sideline by forcing him out of bounds. Shanahan, who watches team drills some 10 yards behind the play, noticed Ford a few times through Tuesday’s session.
“He ran by me a bunch of times,” Shanahan said. “I just saw him walking in, told him to quit teasing me like that. He looked like the Dee Ford I remember. Hopefully he can keep that up and we’ll be smart with him as we go.”
▪ Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who left Monday’s practice with an apparent knee injury, will be out a few weeks, Shanahan said. There was concern given his history with a torn ACL in college. But Shanahan said the injury was just a bruise.
▪ The 49ers were down to their fourth option at cornerback with the starters due to groin and foot injuries from Tim Harris Jr. and Dontae Johnson, respectively. That left Ken Webster and Deommodore Lenoir to fill in. Fellow rookie Ambry continued his work with the second team while expected starter Emmanuel Moseley remains on the reserve-COVID-19 list.
Shanahan said the 49ers might be interested in signing a cornerback for depth. The team worked out B.W. Webb and Lafayette Pitts, according to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 6:03 PM.
