Barring replacement quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo winning a Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers are still expected to have Trey Lance be their starter in 2023.
The 49ers had a very awkward offseason that has now led to a weird season. Despite taking the team to the NFC Championship earlier this year, veteran starting QB Jimmy Garoppolo was removed from his spot, and the organization decided to fully embrace the Trey Lance era for the franchise. Yet, that new era did not get off to a very good start in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.
Against the Bears, he threw for only 164 yards with one interception and no touchdowns in a stunning defeat in Chicago. In Week 2, the 2021 first-round pick only got in three passes before his season was ended due to an ankle injury.
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Luckily for San Francisco, the organization surprised many by deciding not to trade Garopollo in the offseason — although they certainly tried. While the decision set up a possible quarterback controversy if Lance struggled, that was all avoided with the injury to the young QB.
Trey Lance was at San Francisco 49ers team meeting four days after ankle surgery
Now, Garopollo has a chance to prove he should be more strongly considered for the team’s starting signal caller spot long-term. But it seems that won’t matter because barring a Super Bowl victory, NFL insider Jay Glazer claimed during a Week 3 edition of his #AskGlazer Q&A that the 49ers still fully intend to have Lance as their starter next season, despite Garoppolo’s showing for this season being very far from over.
“Obviously, it’s not Trey Lance’s team this year because he’s hurt. But next year, they still have full faith that Trey Lance is their future. Trey had surgery last week to repair a broken ankle and ligaments as well. But just four days after that, he surprised the rest of the team and showed up at the meeting on Friday. Everybody came up, gave him hugs, so they still firmly believe this will be his team.
“… As far as Jimmy Garoppolo is concerned, obviously, it’s his team this season, then he’ll be a free agent. What this also does, is I think we were looking at a 49ers season were you’re gonna have some bumps, some ups and downs for Trey Lance, and every time that happened, people are going to start clamoring, ‘Where’s Jimmy G?’ Obviously, they no longer have to deal with that.”
Jay Glazer on 49ers QB situation
Since Garoppolo lost his job even though he helped lead the team to one game short of the Super Bowl, one would have to assume that only winning the Big Game would actually make the organization rethink it’s long-term QB plans. However, based on Garoppolo’s performance in Week 3 versus the Broncos, a Super Bowl win this season is highly unlikely.