Lynch on Lance: He’s gotta play. We’ve got a team that’s ready to go now

Social media took the time to dissect every word from 49ers general manager John Lynch’s press conference Tuesday. Lynch has always been careful with his words, without giving too much fluff. That was the case when he spoke about Trey Lance.

Lance has rehabbed well, from what Lynch has seen. Here he is discussing Trey’s rehab:

“He’s doing really well. I feel like I tell you guys this all the time, but when I’m on my office, I got a nice view. I’m on the second floor, I got a nice view of the field. I get reports obviously, but my eyes tell me a lot and I’m watching Trey out there taking drops each day.

I don’t see a limp. It’s not to say he’s a 100%, but he’s really recovering well and doing a really nice job and so, he did start the throwing here recently. Trey’s rehabbing extremely well. He did have that secondary procedure. It wasn’t really a setback. One of the plates was kind of given some interference with some of the tendons, stuff above my head, but they took care of it and he seems to be doing really well and we’re happy for him.”

There was some speculation from some fans regarding Lance’s second surgery, and whether it was procedural or if it was indeed a setback. So, it’s good to know Trey is healthy and that wasn’t the case.

Here’s Lynch’s response on where Lance’s bright spots were early in the season and where he could stand to improve:

“Well, I think when we made the move to go up and get a guy like Trey, you don’t do it just for one thing, you do it for a variety of things. Trey brings a lot to the table. I think first of all, you talk with his makeup of his character, who he is as a person. We really believed in that and we’re probably even stronger on that.

He does bring kind of that dual capacity where we felt like he could be a pocket passer, but also add another dimension as a runner.

I think his biggest thing, we just have to find a way, and I’ve had a lot of conversations with Trey, early in my career, I struggled to stay healthy, and then I hit an eight-year stretch where I didn’t miss the snap, so sometimes you just have to go through that, the rough patches, and he has to play.

And that’s the biggest challenge, we have a team that’s ready to go now. He has to get out there and play. Brock got that opportunity this year. He grabbed it, he did great things, we’ll see at some point how we get Trey that opportunity because we very much believe in who he is as a person and who he is as a quarterback.”

It’s time for Trey. There’s no arguing that. Some took Lynch’s comments as a lack of faith in Lance. I disagree. But I’m also in the mindset that Trey has a better chance of being a star than a “bust.”

Lynch loves using the example of his personal career, when he was injured early on and didn’t suffer an injury again.

I didn’t take what Lynch said as a lack of confidence in Lance. When Trey was on the field, he flashed the traits of a No. 3 overall pick. Our last data point of Lance playing, he led two scoring drives. One resulted in a field goal, but that was because the head ball coach kicked a field goal on 4th & 2. Ty Davis-Price was the running back. Now, Trey has Christian McCaffrey.

For me, I’d bet on the first round pick that has the requisite skill set necessary to win a championship. We haven’t seen Lance in extended action, so it’s easy to be leery of what he brings to the table.

Purdy’s status for the start of the season is in jeopardy since he’s still suffering from swelling in his throwing elbow. That leaves the door open for Trey.

The 49ers and Lynch believe in Lance, the person, and he cited how Trey helped Purdy down the stretch:

“Yeah. Well I think adversity can either break you or it can make you stronger. What I know about Trey Lance is he’s a guy who’s going to take that and find a way to learn from it. And that’s what he’s tried to do.

I think the coolest thing for me was to watch him help Brock after he was hurt. Not an easy thing to do. I can’t say enough about the job [quarterbacks coach] Brian Griese did. He was a huge part of our success, but the first person that Brock would come off to and talk to was Trey and I watched that and I thought that was so cool. And it speaks to who he is and his character and it’s why we believed in him so much when we drafted him.”

Some took Lynch’s comments as an indictment on Lance’s future.

To me, Lance is QB1 until proven otherwise.