To be the best, you have to learn from the best, and it appears Trey Lance is on the right path toward making an inspiring comeback for the 49ers, with a little help from one of the NFL's flashiest quarterbacks.
Lance worked out with the Kansas City Chiefs' two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, in April, and his throwing motion apparently significantly improved.
QB coach Jeff Christensen worked closely with Lance at the start of the offseason and, after the 49ers star's lengthy recovery from a season-ending ankle injury, told The Athletic’s Matt Barrows that the “biggest breakthrough” came while working alongside Mahomes last month.
“I said, ‘Watch this. Watch what he does here,’ ” Christensen told Barrows as he remembered the conversation with Lance. “It was something I was telling him to do that he wasn’t quite doing. And then he saw Patrick apply it perfectly. And I think that visual buy-in, that mental buy-in, helped him past that mental hump.
“And to his credit, he just kept getting better,” Christensen added. “[Over] the last seven days, every day was a substantial jump.”
After the 49ers traded three first-round picks to select Lance No. 3 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, his career hasn’t gone quite as planned. He broke his right index finger in San Francisco’s 2021 preseason finale and, according to 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, it wasn’t fully healed in 2022. Lance had to “completely change” his grip on the football, and it took him a while to adjust.
While trying to fully recover from the finger injury, Lance sustained the Week 2 ankle injury, which required two separate surgeries and a lengthy recovery. But entering his third season with the 49ers, Lance's finger and ankle no longer are a problem.
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“He was able to get such a better base in these last two months that I think Trey is the best that we’ve [seen] him right now,” Shanahan said earlier this month at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event. “Yeah, we’ve got to get into OTAs and practice, but when you watch his feet, his timing, how he’s throwing the ball, he’s in such a better place now than he was last year at this time.”
On top of Lance's restructured throwing motion, Christensen also pointed out an important improvement on what previously was seen as a growing concern.
Christensen told Barrows that when the two first started working together in early March, Lance’s arm would become sore and tender after a couple days. Lance would need a day off for rest and treatment, and Christensen said that shouldn’t happen to quarterbacks who have the “right technique.”
But, after their time together, Christensen noticed significant progress. He told Barrows that after a high-intensity session in which Lance threw 150 passes, he went back home to the Bay that night expecting to be in pain the next day, as he typically would.
“And I called him in ’Frisco on Saturday at noon,” Christensen told Barrows. “And he thought for sure his arm would be killing him. And I said, ‘OK, how’s your arm?’ He said, ‘I cannot believe I woke up and it was not sore at all.’ ”
When asked if Lance has experienced any type of soreness issues since the 49ers' offseason program, Christensen said, "Zero."
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Lance's recovery has been as much mental as physical, and Christensen can't wait to see the quarterback's full potential unlocked under Shanahan's system.
“With his play-calling and this kid’s upside and ability, I think he can be incredible,” he said.