49ers' Kyle Shanahan: 'I Think Our Team's Ready' for Trey Lance to Be Starting QB

The San Francisco 49ers didn't trade up to select Trey Lance with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL draft for him to sit on the sideline for multiple years, and head coach Kyle Shanahan says the team is ready for the North Dakota State product to take over as starting quarterback.

"I think our team's ready for Trey, going through OTAs," Shanahan told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic on The TK Show (h/t Rohan Chakravarthi of 49ers Webzone). "I'm just pumped to get to work and provide him some practices cuz I know the kid has the ability. He's made of the right stuff. He just needs the reps, and he's gotta start banking those."

Chakravarthi noted Lance has taken every first-team rep during the offseason while Jimmy Garoppolo rehabilitates his shoulder injury that required surgery.

Garoppolo has started 45 games for the 49ers since 2017 and helped lead them to the Super Bowl during the 2019 campaign and the NFC Championship Game last season. But Shanahan made it seem like his time with San Francisco was coming to an end:

"Had an awesome run with Jimmy, and it was great. But when you bring in a salary cap and things like that, there's just so many tough decisions you have to make. And we made that a year ago. And we got to here, and I was so happy how Jimmy played last year, and that he took us almost to the Super Bowl, got healthy. Guys around him played real well around him. But this is something that we did last year, knowing where we wanted to go with this franchise and how you balance out a salary cap, how you balance out a roster. And Jimmy gave Trey a year that I thought he needed, just to get used to this league, to get his feet wet a little bit."

Speculation about a Garoppolo trade has been a constant all offseason, but he is still on the roster.

Still, it sounds like Lance will start the opener at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 11 in Week 1.