Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner sees growth in Trey Lance’s performance

The week following the San Francisco 49ers blowout loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 of the preseason has been filled with another round of discourse surrounding the Niners’ quarterback situation, particularly the struggles of 2021 third-overall pick, quarterback Trey Lance. Hall of Fame quarterback and Westwood One radio announcer Kurt Warner joined Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show earlier this week to discuss his take on Lance’s performance. Warner did not share the same critical evaluation that others made following the game.

“I actually didn’t think it was nearly as bad as people were talking about,” Warner said. “You know there were some missed throws. There were some times, you know, that I want to see him just process a little bit faster with the information. But overall, I actually didn’t think it was bad. I thought it was progress over what I saw a year ago, and I think we always have to remember, I know he was drafted high, but he hasn’t played a lot of football, he hasn’t had a lot of experience. So, speeding up the game and understanding what they’re doing, it takes time.”

Eisen pressed Warner a bit on the contrast between Lance and the other player competing to be Brock Purdy’s backup, Sam Darnold. Eisen thought Darnold looked far more comfortable, raising questions about whether Lance will even be able to be the second-string quarterback in San Francisco. Warner, however, pushed back by pointing out the circumstances of the preseason.

“Sam Darnold, we’ve seen moments where he’s looked really, really good,” he said. “The problem with Sam Darnold has been consistency. When he gets out there and has to play every week, he hasn’t played consistently and so, you can’t read too much into preseason in my opinion.”

Here are Warner’s full quotes on Lance and Darnold:

“When I watched the tape, I actually didn’t think it was nearly as bad as people were talking about. You know there were some missed throws. There were sometimes, you know, that I want to see him just process a little bit faster with the information. But overall, I actually didn’t think it was bad. I thought it was progress over what I saw a year ago, and I think we always have to remember, I know he was drafted high, but he hasn’t played a lot of football, he hasn’t had a lot of experience. So, speeding up the game and understanding what they’re doing, it takes time and, you know, that’s just the nature of it and I know it may be unfair to him because he was drafted so high after not playing a lot of football, so the expectations are really high, but I thought there was progress there from what I saw a year ago and that’s kind of what you want to expect from a young quarterback.”

“The difference with preseason, everything’s more basic. The coverages you’re seeing are more basic. They’re not gameplanning. The offense that you’re running is more basic, kind of first day install stuff that, you know, it’s stuff that these guys have run a million times. Sam Darnold, we’ve seen moments where he’s looked really, really good. The problem with Sam Darnold has been consistency. When he gets out there and has to play every week, he hasn’t played consistently and so, you can’t read too much into preseason in my opinion. You have to look at the plays and break down the plays and you want to see guys execute the play that they’ve been given, but it’s a whole other level when you get to the regular season.”