Without playing a single regular season game in the NFL, Trey Lance quickly is becoming the talk of the town.
The No. 3 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft is the 49ers' future at the quarterback position, but will still have an opportunity to make an immediate impact.
Coach Kyle Shanahan deployed both Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo with the first-team offense against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon. The wrinkle, though, was not only Lance and Garoppolo alternating plays, but on the same drive.
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Deploying a mobile threat such as Lance in an offense that already is predicated on the run will only make it that much harder for opposing defenses to prepare for Shanahan's scheme.
NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah joined The Rich Eisen Show, where he discussed why it will be so difficult for opposing teams to prepare for Lance's role within the 49ers' (Jimmy Garoppolo-lead) offense.
"There's so much you're going to have to deal with defensively and to game plan against," Jeremiah said. "I can't wait. I think it's going to be a nightmare to defend when he gets in the game."
"I mean, I think everything's on the table," Jeremiah added. "Maybe he's given a drive here and there. Maybe you get into short-yardage situations, he comes out there. Maybe it's just down in the red zone. Eventually, it's going to be his job once he further develops in the passing game, and you're going to have to deal with all this stuff on every down, basically."
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How will the 49ers incorporate Lance? We saw some of that on Sunday. How much will they use him? That remains to be seen.
Whether it's for a play or two per game or much more, opposing defenses have no choice but to prepare for Lance's dual-threat ability.
"But in the meantime, I think they're going to find ways, just my opinion, watching it, to be able to incorporate him and use a pretty unique skill set that he has with the creativity that you have with Kyle Shanahan," Jeremiah said. "It will be fascinating. I know one thing: You've got to prepare for it, and no matter how much of it they're going to do, you've got to spend a good chunk of time preparing for all that stuff."
If there's one thing we know about Kyle Shanahan, it's that he loves to scheme up some of the most creative play calls you'll ever see. With Lance thrown into the mix, the possibilities are endless.