A wide range of opinions on Trey Lance’s Week 1 performance have been broadcast this week, ranging from supportive to skeptical.
And while 49ers general manager John Lynch certainly has some thoughts of his own regarding some of those viewpoints, he chooses to keep them to himself.
“I don’t choose [to fire back],” Lynch said Friday on KNBR’s “Murph & Mac” show. “Sometimes, you’d think that a guy like Mike Martz, who’s done this at this level would choose -- I don’t know, to handle things differently.
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“But I’m really not focused, just as Trey shouldn’t be, I can’t be focused on all the noise out there, and so I’ll focus right in here in this building on how I help this team in every way to put the best possible team out there every week.”
Lynch chooses not to get caught up in all the talk about Lance’s abilities, which made headlines this week after Martz, a one-time 49ers offensive coordinator in 2008 and former NFL head coach, provided a scathing assessment of the young quarterback that went viral for all the wrong reasons.
Others publicly stated that San Francisco should bench Lance for the team’s veteran backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, after just one game. Another former coach, Sean Payton, recently all but guaranteed Garoppolo will replace Lance by season’s end.
As for Lynch? He’s remaining realistic in his evaluation of the quarterback he drafted No. 3 overall in 2021.
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“I think it’s probably right where we thought it would be,” Lynch said. “He did some good things, looked very much in control, had some really impressive throws. And then there’s some things Trey would expect himself to do better going forward.
“As long as he can continue to improve upon those things, I think there’s so many bright examples why we should all be excited about what’s to come. But you’ve got to continue to improve.”
The quarterback position always comes with scrutiny, Lynch added, which has seemed to be the case even more so for signal-callers on the 49ers over the years. The GM and Pro Football Hall of Fame safety has made it a point to try and give Lance advice on how to deal with the microscope he’s under this season.
“I talk with Trey a lot, just around the building and such, but he’s got a number of people in his corner,” Lynch said. “I didn’t play that position at this level. I played for a long time, and my only advice is don’t listen to the noise. Listen to your coaches. Listen to your teammates. Listen to the people that matter.”
RELATED: Martz doubles down on harsh Lance assessment that went viral
Narratives will always exist, he continued, no matter what team a player is on or the position they play.
His challenge for Lance is not to buy into any of it and focus on the task at hand.
And this week, the 22-year-old will look to silence his doubters on Sunday as the 49ers welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Levi’s Stadium.