Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers are expected to turn the page from Jimmy Garoppolo to Trey Lance this offseason. The process of going from a veteran signal-caller to a still green 21-year-old will be one with challenges.
The road from Garoppolo to Lance might be even more difficult given the offensive staff turnover the 49ers are facing this offseason.
Shanahan's staff lost another member Friday when quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello agreed to become the next offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky, NFL Media's Tom Pelissero reported, citing sources.
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Since the end of the season, the 49ers now have lost three members of their offensive staff. Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel took the head-coaching job for the Miami Dolphins and took wide receivers coach Wes Welker with him. Add Scangarello to that mix, and the 49ers now have lost three key members of the offensive staff as they prepare to transition from Garoppolo to Lance.
The brain drain in Santa Clara could provide, at the very least, a momentary impediment to the transition from Lance to Garoppolo.
Lance's physical tools are obvious, and the growth he showed between his first start (Week 5) and second (Week 17) was encouraging. However, it's clear Lance still has a lot to improve on to go from intriguing rookie to solid NFL starter, and then, eventually, top-flight signal-caller.
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"Trey's going to take a couple weeks off, and then he's going to go down to Southern California and work with some guys throwing the ball, isolate on that, just his throwing motion, working on that all the time, which I'd say 80 percent of the quarterbacks in this league do that," Shanahan said in his year-end press conference when asked about Lance's offseason directive. "It'll be real good for Trey to kind of get away from us and just focus on those things. And we'll be in touch through the whole thing, and we'll get him back here and start talking X's and O's and scheme and footwork, just preparing him hopefully to have a good phase one, two and three of OTAs.
Having offensive staff continuity is important for any team, but it's vital for a young quarterback who started just 17 games in college and missed a year due to COVID-19. Add in the fact that Shanahan's offense is extremely complex, and it's fair to wonder how the staff changes will impact Lance's development and the plan to move on from Garoppolo, who, for all his shortcomings, has a good grasp on the system.
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The losses of McDaniel, Welker and Scangarello will put Lance and Shanahan's relationship and mind-meld, something that will be a key to the 49ers' 2022 success, under the microscope even further.
"For us, it's just continuing to build that relationship," Lance told Rich Eisen on "The Rich Eisen Show" during Super Bowl Radio Row. "Him understanding how I see the game and vice-versa. I'm trying to get to that point. Every time he talks football, I'm trying to write everything down. I want to record it. He's just that type of brain. Same with [former 49ers OC] Mike McDaniel. I haven't been around too many people that every time they talk about something it really means a lot. I want to write it down because if I don't, I feel like I'm missing out on something.
"For me, watching tape with Kyle is a big thing. Whether it's tape from my games, tape from Jimmy's games, any of the games from this season. Understanding how he sees the game and making sure we are on the same page throughout the year."
Shanahan and general manager John Lynch hitched their wagon to Lance and the idea that he can be the quarterback to take the 49ers' offense to the next level.
The talent and tools are there. The ceiling is incredibly high. But more development is needed to take Lance from an amorphous ball of clay and mold him into the star Shanahan believes he can become.
Lance spent his entire rookie season working with an offensive staff that no longer resides in Santa Clara. But he still has the offensive maestro in Shanahan, and that should be good enough.
