To hear 49ers CEO Jed York tell it, the team’s present quarterback situation isn’t necessarily unique. In fact, it’s not even the first time in team history they’ve been in this spot.
At the NFL owner’s meetings York spoke with reporters and invoked the Joe Montana-Steve Young dynamic when discussing the notion that Jimmy Garoppolo could stick around in 2022 and start another year in front of second-year signal caller Trey Lance.
“It’s professional sports,” York observed via NBC Sports Bay Area. “If Steve Young can sit on the bench for four seasons, like, Steve Young’s a Hall of Famer. If he’s willing to do it and he has the competitive drive to do it, why can’t somebody else? I think those two (Montana and Young) drove each other in the late 80s and early 90s to be the best that they could possibly be. And if that’s the situation that we have, and that’s what’s created – sign me up for that problem any day.”
The one issue with that is that the situations are nothing alike.
First, Montana is one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all-time. He is a Hall of Famer and won four Super Bowls with the 49ers. In 1987, the year the 49ers traded for Young, Montana was a First-Team All-Pro and led the NFL in completion rate and touchdowns. In 1989 and 1990 he was the NFL’s MVP. Garoppolo has not made a Pro Bowl.
Second, the 49ers acquired Young for a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick. He was seen as a valuable backup with untapped potential. It was a low risk-high reward reclamation project. Had he not panned out it wouldn’t have wrecked the team’s future. Lance was acquired in a trade up that involved three first-round picks and a third-round selection. The 49ers mortgaged their future to get him in the building because Garoppolo couldn’t stay healthy and his ceiling wasn’t high enough.
While York is correct that Young sat those years and wound up piecing together a Hall of Fame career, he did so behind one of the best QBs in NFL history. He sat out because the 49ers were winning Super Bowls with Montana. San Francisco acquired Lance because they don’t think they can consistently compete for Super Bowls with Garoppolo.
It’s nice to invoke Montana and Young as the gold standard for moving from one quarterback to another, but what the 49ers are dealing with in 2022 is not like the situation they had 35 years prior.
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