The media is still trying to predict what the Tre Lance quarterback will be like at the San Francisco 49ers. No one – except for the 49ers – has seen much of him in 2021. The overall selection for third place started last year with just two games, replacing the injured Jimmy Garoppolo and adding a number of A few actors scattered here and there. That total reached 178 shots last season.

This is hardly enough to make a final assessment of the player or accurately predict the future of the young quarterback in the NFL.

People are trying to do this, though. Some look at the limited sample size and say Lance doesn’t look ready. They say he couldn’t play a key role after two games that feature some tough moments. Then there were the casual chatter that Lance was not ready and that his development took longer than expected.

Others believe in the guesswork hype last year – that Lance has all the tools to thrive in the NFL and just needs time to sit down and learn, which he’s got. The 49 who try to trade Garoppolo say a lot about their belief in Lance. Of course, the fact that the team appears to be failing miserably in its attempt to get the returns they hope for the veteran quarterback is not helpful.

The NFL saw the brilliance of its sophomore quarterbacks. Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk, chatting with Rich Eisen on Rich Eisen Showhe admits that could happen with the Lance and the 49ers.

“I think BetMGM had a lot of excitement on Trey Lance to back their MVP into very high odds, but they did have some bets that were placed on Lance,” Florio told Eisen. “This is kind of a surprise [for] The beginning of the first year. But did you know? Look at the past several years. Our sophomore quarterbacks just come out of nowhere and become the favorites.

“We saw that with Patrick Mahomes in 2018. We saw that with Lamar Jackson in 2019. They both won the MVP award. We saw that Keeler Murray in 2020 has some [early] MVP buzz. So it’s not out of the question that Tri Lance could break into the league like some of these other players.”

Aizen added that Joe Burrow reached the Super Bowl in his second year.

Florio is also working on the opposite view, pointing to the fact that 49 players have downplayed Lance’s urgency on the football field. CEO Jed York said last year that the team was willing and willing to pay Garoppolo for the remainder of his contract if it meant Lance had enough time to develop.

“So for us, if you invest $25 (million) or $50 million in your upstart to get them ready, then for me, we’re investing in our team’s long-term future,” York said. And you never want to put someone down, especially a guy who’d heard some kind of verbal about Trey, [that] He didn’t play much.”

General Manager John Lynch added this off-season that the team has a plan to retain Garoppolo and Lance for another season, if necessary.

“If we had the two back, and let them compete, we’d be happy to do that too,” Lynch said after sharing how the 49ers think of Garoppolo. “And we can do it with our hat.”