Shanahan explains where Trey Lance has improved the most since last year

49ers quarterback Trey lance returned home to Minnesota Wednesday. On Thursday, Lance expects to have friends and family attend practice. That’ll be the only time they can see him play this week, as Lance won’t suit up for the second preseason game, per Kyle Shanahan:

“Right now, I’m not expecting to, but we’re day-to-day with that. We’ll see how practice goes tomorrow. And there’s a chance he will, but that was the original plan.” Lance has no incentive to play in a meaningless game against the Vikings after he spent two days practicing against them.

We’re at that part of the preseason where analysts are forecasting Trey Lance as a darkhorse MVP candidate. And while nobody debates the potential of the 49ers offense with Lance under center, this is a kid who started two games on the fly last year. As a result, the unknown about Lance’s game is enormous.

The one area that remains one of the biggest questions is where Shanahan believes Lance improved the most from last training camp to this year:

“Just being more consistent. He got a little better at everything, which is what you need to do for a rookie coming in, especially the lack experience that Trey had. So you throw everything at him, and sometimes he gets one down, and then you go a bunch of new stuff, and then that takes a step back. So that’s been the process here throughout all last year and coming into this year, just in every single area, the consistency of it, not having to take two steps back as much. As I keep saying, the more he plays, the more reps he gets, the better he’ll get.”

Consistency, comfort with his receivers, getting used to the speed of the game and the different looks defenses will throw at you. Each of those aspects of Lance’s game can only improve with reps.