Many people, myself included, have used Kyle Shanahan’s offense with Robert Griffin III as a framework for the kinds of things we should expect to see this year with Trey Lance. However, that may not be the case based on what Trent Williams told KNBR yesterday.
Williams was a guest on Papa and Lund after practice and was asked if he saw similarities between the offense Kyle ran in Washington in 2012 and the offense he’s been running in camp this year with Trey Lance.
“No, honestly, I don’t. RG3 was such a different runner, such a different style. He had track speed so all the plays were designed to get him on the edge. We’d never run a quarterback power or a quarterback sweep with RG. It was all about getting him on the edge, getting him to threaten people with his feet, with his speed, and then hitting the play actions off of that.
Trey is much further along as a pocket quarterback. As a runner he doesn’t have the track speed RG has but he has the size so we can send him up the middle on QB powers or, like we saw [against] Green Bay, the QB sweep. We never did that with Robert. We can do that with Trey, it’s just a different skill set running the ball.
As far as the quarterback, [Lance] gives us the ability to do more because he’s a willing pocket passer. He gets that we got outstanding receivers. If the quarterback can’t get them the ball they’re kind of obsolete. I think that’s what he does and that’s what’s gonna give us a chance. I think that that’s why Kyle and them took him because of the things that he can do. It gives you the RG3 style of offense and the Jimmy Garoppolo style of offense all in one.”
That is high praise coming from Trent Williams, for sure. For what it’s worth, Kyle Shanahan said last week he doesn’t plan to change the playbook too much for his new quarterback.
“You do the same stuff, and you just got a couple more elements. When you have a threat of a running quarterback, that can change defenses, and when you see how it changes them, then you adjust to that. But we had stuff in last year, we’ve worked on stuff, and even when you do stuff that seems different to everyone else, it’s the exact same play to the o-line. It’s the exact same play to the running back. It’s the exact same play to the receivers, but if they don’t count for him, then he gets to run. So it doesn’t really change as much as it seems.”
The blending of those new elements with the old staples that have worked so well will be one of the most fascinating parts of this upcoming season for the Niners. Right now, one of the league’s best players thinks they have the quarterback that can make it all work seamlessly.
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