In addition to what he has shown on the practice field, 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance is also putting in a vast amount of work off the field.
Peter King wrote Monday in his Football Morning in America column that Lance leads the 49ers in one important, unseen category.
“The team gave every player an iPad to study plays and the playbook and that day’s gametape,” King wrote. “Of the 90 players in camp, guess whose iPad has registered the most minutes used on the Niners’ internal server—where every login is recorded? Trey Lance’s iPad.”
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King visited Santa Clara last week on his tour of NFL training camps. He was a guest on the 49ers Talk podcast, too.
“My biggest takeaway with Lance is not only is he polite, he’s also been a very diligent worker early on,” King said.
General manager John Lynch told King that the presence of Lance also has brought out the best in veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo enters his eighth NFL season and is taking part in his fourth training camp with the 49ers.
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Officially, it is not a competition for the starting job, coach Kyle Shanahan said last week. But four days into camp, the action on the practice field suggests it is trending in that direction.
Lance got off to a strong start in training camp, showing his dual threat skills as a passer and runner. He has also hit all the right notes off the field, showing deference toward veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
“That’s his role right now,” King said on 49ers Talk. “He’s coming into a place, he knows, eventually, let the best man win. But I’d say it’s probably pretty likely that Garoppolo starts the season and then we’ll see what happens.”
King spoke about one play during the second practice of camp in which Lance calmly moved to his left and spun a pass 20-plus yards downfield to Brandon Aiyuk.
“‘Oooooohhhhhhhhhh,’ is the sound emanating from the defenders standing in front of me,” King wrote.
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King talked about that play and the big picture on 49ers Talk.
“Part of what happens in the course of training camp, the young guys, the rookies, have to show Fred Warner, they have to show (Nick) Bosa, they have to show (Arik) Armstead, ‘Hey, at some point I’m going to be the guy here,’” King said. “He has to show whether he can be trusted.
“With that throw, it was another brick in the wall for him to show his teammates, ‘You’re going to be able to trust me.’”