It’s starting to come together for 49ers quarterback Trey Lance. After a rookie season where he was the backup signal caller from Day 1, he’s gotten a chance to log more reps this year and the experience is starting to pay off in a tangible way for the QB.
Lance on Saturday talked to reporters about his progress. One of the toughest parts of transitioning to the NFL is adjusting to the speed of the game, and the speed at which decisions have to be made. While the game might’ve been flying for Lance in his brief playing time as a rookie, that’s starting to change.
“When you say things are slowing down, it’s just getting better,” Lance said. “And for me it’s every single rep, like every rep I take, I think the game slows down and that’s kind of the way I’m going about it every single day, one day at a time and every single rep is trying to learn as much as I can from it.”
Training camp has been a little bit of a struggle for Lance against a tenacious 49ers defense, but it sounds like the reps against that unit are having an overall positive effect.
Practices slowing down doesn’t mean Lance will immediately be a star in the league. It’s certainly a positive step though and something the 49ers coaching staff will love to hear.
Getting the game to slow down will allow Lance to be a better decision-maker, and should open things up for head coach Kyle Shanahan to start putting more on Lance’s plate.
The real first test comes in Friday’s preseason opener against Green Bay. That’ll be live game reps where Lance will get to test just how much the game has slowed down for him over the course of the offseason. If he keeps on this trajectory, he’ll be in a good position to play well right away this season.
