49ers' Trey Lance Made 'Substantial Jump' Working with Patrick Mahomes, Says QB Coach

Amid speculation about his future with the San Francisco 49ers, Trey Lance is doing his best to keep getting better and earn an opportunity to play.

Jeff Christensen, a private quarterbacks coach who has worked with Lance this offseason, told The Athletic's Matt Barrows he's made "a substantial jump" over the past week while working alongside Patrick Mahomes.

"I said, 'Watch this. Watch what he (Mahomes) does here,'" Christensen said of a discussion he had with Lance. "It was something I was telling him to do that he wasn't quite doing. And then he saw Patrick apply it perfectly. And I think that visual buy-in, that mental buy-in, helped him past that mental hump."

Lance and Mahomes were filmed during a joint throwing session earlier this offseason.

The comments from Christensen echo recent remarks from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan about how pleased they are with Lance's throwing mechanics.

"He was able to get such a better base in these last two months that I think Trey is the best that we've (seen) him right now," Shanahan told reporters last week. "Yeah, we got to get into OTAs and practice, but when you watch his feet, his timing, how he's throwing the ball, he's in such a better place now than he was last year at this time."

Accuracy has been a concern for Lance since the 49ers selected him with the No. 3 pick in the 2021 draft.

Per an unofficial count through the first few weeks of full-team drills last summer, Cam Inman of the Mercury News tracked the 23-year-old as being 67-of-128 on pass attempts.

In the eight games Lance has played over the past two seasons, he's completed just 54.9 percent of his attempts. The North Dakota State alum began last season as the 49ers' starter, but a fractured fibula in Week 2 ended his year prematurely.

Brock Purdy's recovery from elbow surgery does open the door for Lance to get another shot at opening the season as San Francisco's starter. He will split first-team reps with Sam Darnold in offseason activities, starting next week when organized team activities begin.

Shanahan expects Purdy will be back for training camp barring any setbacks in his recovery, but it's unclear if that means he will be ready when the regular season begins Sept. 10.

If Lance can prove he's capable of taking on a starting role, it would be a huge win for the 49ers. They made a big investment by trading two first-round picks to the Miami Dolphins move up in the 2021 draft to select him with the hope he could become a franchise quarterback.