It’s only one game into the season and Jerry Rice is already sick and tired of the idea that the 49ers could bench first-year starter Trey Lance for Jimmy Garoppolo.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver on Tuesday made clear his stance on San Francisco’s quarterback battle following the team’s 19-10 loss to the Bears: The 49ers can — and should — stick with Lance, even following a subpar debut.
Rice said as much in an appearance on “The Adam Schein Podcast,” where the namesake host asked whether it was time for coach Kyle Shanahan to reconsider who his starter should be.
“Come on, don’t even go there right now,” Rice said. “It’s too early for that, come on.”
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Whose side are you on?@JerryRice gets heated when @AdamSchein brings up potentially starting Jimmy Garoppolo over Trey Lance after week 1 of the NFL season.
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Continued Rice: “That was just the first game of the season. First game of the season, and he made some great throws. He extended plays. … We would’ve never done that with Jimmy G.
“And Jimmy G is an exceptional quarterback. He’s going to do some good things, but the one thing that Trey brings more is that you’ve got to prepare for him running the football.”
Indeed, Lance showcased his dual-threat ability with a team-leading 54 rushing yards on 13 carries. His passing stats were less impressive: 13 of 28 passing for 164 yards and an interception in the miserable Chicago weather.
But one game, Rice said, is not enough to jump to a conclusion:
“You’re going to base everything off the first game?” Rice asked. “I cannot believe you. I can’t believe you right now.”
Schein reinforced his question by saying he wasn’t looking only at Game 1, but also the entire preseason. Rice responded by asking when a team had ever really shown anything of value or indicative of future play before the actual season started.
Shanahan, for what it’s worth, has been all in on his second-year player, the No. 3 pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. That’s unlikely to change after one week, especially considering how his athleticism can further open up the 49ers’ offense.
Conversely, the team struggled to move Garoppolo via trade, and was not willing to risk cutting him only for him to join an NFC West team in free agency. And so they re-signed him as the league’s highest-paid backup.
Either way, Rice is not entertaining a “soap opera” talking point. At least, not this early in the season.
“I’m not going to get into all that. That would be like a soap opera, and we’re not going to do that right now,” Rice said. “Trey Lance is the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.”
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