Trent Williams is well aware of how good the 49ers defense currently is. That’s why he’s incredibly impressed by what he’s seen out of Trey Lance during training camp.
Trent Williams doesn't see the Robert Griffin III comparison for Trey Lance. In fact, he believes that the 49ers' second-year quarterback offers coach Kyle Shanahan more than what he had with Griffin in Washington.
Griffin, who played for the then-Washington Redskins for four seasons, two with Shanahan as the offensive coordinator, burst onto the scene in 2012 as a dual-threat quarterback and won Offensive Rookie of the Year. In 15 starts, Griffin completed 258 of 393 passing attempts (65.6 percent) for 3,2000 yards and 20 passing touchdowns. On the ground, he rushed for 815 yards on 120 attempts (6.8 yards per attempt) and seven touchdowns.
Williams joined KNBR 680's "Papa & Lund" on Tuesday after training camp practice, where he was asked if he sees the comparison between Lance and Griffin.
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"No, honestly I don't," Williams said. "RG3 was such a different runner, such a different style. He had track speed, so all the plays were designed to get him on the edge, we never ran a quarterback-power or a quarterback-sweep with [Griffin]. It was all about getting him on the edge, getting him to threaten people with his feet, with his speed, and then hitting the play-actions off of that.
"Trey is much further along as a pocket quarterback. As a runner he doesn't have the track speed that RG3 has, but he has the size, so we can send him up the middle on QB-powers ... we can do that with Trey, it's just a different skill set running the ball. As far as a quarterback, I think he gives us the ability to do more because he's a willing passer."
Williams believes that Lance has the ability to combine both elements from Shanahan's RG3-style scheme and the recent scheme under veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
"I think that's why Kyle [Shanahan] and them took him because of the things he can do, because it gives you the RG3-style of offense and the Jimmy Garoppolo-style offense merged into one," Williams added.
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It remains to be seen how Lance develops as a passer, but the ability to extend plays with his legs was clear from Day 1.
If Williams' assessment is correct, Shanahan and the 49ers' offense could be in for a fun season with Lance under center.