While Jimmy Garoppolo’s future remains uncertain, it looks like the San Francisco 49ers might have a star in Trey Lance. Deebo Samuel seems to think so.
It appears as if the Jimmy Garoppolo era might be over for the San Francisco 49ers.
Deebo Samuel, arguably the most important part of the 49ers offense, heaped plenty of praise in the direction of Trey Lance, San Francisco’s young quarterback.
Deebo Samuel: "I think Trey (Lance) can be a superstar in this league. ... This is officially the first offseason. I know Kyle is going to do a good job of putting a plan together in order for him to be the guy that we need him to be, because Wes Welker did that to me."
— David Lombardi (@LombardiHimself) February 10, 2022
In a vacuum, this sort of quote is inconsequential and innocuous. It’d be hard to look at it any other way than a key contributor for a team praising a player who could develop into a star at some point in the future.
And there’s even still a chance that’s all this quote is!
Maybe Samuel is just acknowledging the potential of a teammate. That possibility should be noted.
That said, there’s another possibility in play here. This could truly be part of a discussion about how Lance could be stepping up as a starter sooner rather than later.
A brilliant and remarkably talented offensive leader like Samuel acknowledging how Kyle Shanahan is trusted with “putting a plan together in order for [Lance] to be the guy that [San Francisco] need him to be” seems like high praise.
San Francisco 49ers: Deebo Samuel praises Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo
Even though Samuel is heaping praise over at the 49ers’ young quarterback and seemingly believes Garoppolo might be headed out, that doesn’t mean Samuel doesn’t have respect for Garoppolo.
From the outside looking in, it looks like Samuel and Garoppolo have a pretty solid friendship.
Kraxy how y’all have so much to say about our quarterback…. Check His Win Percentage…. Okay I’ll Wait. Pure Winner @JimmyG_10
— Deebo (@19problemz) January 27, 2022
As Cassandra Negley of Yahoo Sports writes, Samuel believes Garoppolo might be the reason why Lance could have success sooner rather than later.
“I think Jimmy played a major role in helping Trey become a pro and showing him the ins and outs of the league and showing him what it takes to be the guy,” Samuel explained. “Because Jimmy was the guy for us for three years.”
It remains to be seen exactly what will happen with Garoppolo and the 49ers, but it seems plausible that there’s a good chance he’s headed out.