Analyzing Day 7 of the San Francisco 49ers Quarterback Competitors

Trey Lance doesn’t just win the 49ers quarterback competition. He’s doing a show.

He is the main attraction in the training camp. Not Fred Warner. Not George Kittle. Certainly not Jimmy Garoppolo. Lance. He’s the player everyone is watching – even the other players.

“I think all eyes are on him,” said DJ Jones on Wednesday. “He’s special.”

On Tuesday, linebacker Dre Greenlaw wrote on Instagram that Lance has the “best arm I’ve ever seen.”

I share Greenlaw’s opinion. Lance has the best arm I’ve seen in person on the 49er practice field. He’s also the best quarterback I’ve ever trained in Santa Clara. He literally does everything well.

He’s an excellent runner like Lamar Jackson, but has a much better arm and great speed like Colin Kaepernick, but has much better throwing mechanics and a much faster release.

That means Lance has the chance to be the 49ers’ best quarterback since Steve Young.

He and Garoppolo did that on Wednesday.

TREY LANCE

Played exclusively with the second team offensive and completed 7 of 8 attempts to pass. The one incomplete throw should have been a defensive pass disorder.

Lance played the whole camp with the defense of the second team. It’s time to let him face the starters. Here is one blow after blow of his practice:

1. Rolled right, found his third read, Wayne Gallman, curling around the back of the game and tossing all the way across the field to him to win a 10. This was an extremely powerful throw at a stationary target.

2. Run a zone to his left and won 10 yards.

3. Completed a 15 yard pass across the middle to Brandon Aiyuk who ran an excavation route from left to right. Great job hitting a moving target at the crotch.

4. George Kittle threw an incomplete deep pass down the right sideline. Kittle was open – he had a few steps on the rookie safety Talanoa Hufanga – but Lance lost the pass. This caused Kittle to slow down, which caused Hufanga to hit him. Looks like a defensive pass disorder. Either way, bad litter.

5. Completed a 45 yard pass to Ross Dwelley moving up the right sideline. This pass was a rope.

6. Did a zone read and lost ten feet. Maurice Hurst marked him in the backcourt.

7. Crawled to the left, feet set back, and thrown back over the middle to his right to Aiyuk to win 10.

8. Completed another 45 yard pass, this time to run Kittle up the seam. Throws like these become routine for Lance.

9. Threw a 10 yard touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews, who was running a seam route in the red zone. Matthews was Lance’s second reading.

10. He ran a zone to his left in the red zone and scored a touchdown. Simple.

11. Throw a touch pass over a cornerback in the end zone to get a result. Nsimba Webster intercepted the pass. This was Lance’s best touch shot of the camp.

JIMMY GAROPPOLO

Poor Jimmy.

He used to be the most physically gifted quarterback in town. Now he’s like an outdated piece of technology – he’s a typewriter and Lance is an iPhone.

So Garoppolo can’t keep up even on his best day.

Wednesday wasn’t Garoppolo’s best day, however. Here is one beat after beat of his morning.

1. Completed a 5 yard checkdown pass to Mohamed Sanu after holding the ball in his pocket for too long and taking a sack from Arik Armstead.

2. Stared too long on first read, threw too late on second read – Deebo Samuel curls up – and let cornerback Ken Webster break his pass. Samuel opened a door earlier.

3. Threw Kittle a pass driving a deep intersection route and was almost intercepted by Tavon Wilson who got both hands on the pass but dropped it. Garoppolo never saw Wilson lurk in a zone waiting for Kittle.

4. Threw an incomplete deep pass at Kittle that was open. Garoppolo hesitated, grabbed twice, then sailed out of bounds with a long wobbler. Awkward.

5. Completed a check-down pass for Trent Sherfield running a swing route.

6. Completed a 10 yard pass for Kittle who drove an out route against Tony Jefferson.

7. Sailed an incomplete pass over the head of Brandon Aiyuk who ran a deep intersection route against K’Waun Williams and was open.

8. Completed a screen pass on Deebo Samuel.

9. Rolled right and threw a short pass at Kittle, who ran into the end zone from a few yards.

10. Threw Deebo a crooked pass to Samuel, but Samuel dropped it.

11. Threw a quick pass to run Trey Sermon back.

Not a bad exercise for a Garoppolo, but not an exciting one either. His morning ended with a checkdown and nobody cared about it because it will soon be history.

Sorry, Jimmy. It’s strictly business.