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Trey Lance figures to be the 49ers’ starting quarterback in 2022. It’ll be his first season as a full-time starter after getting the starting nod just twice during his rookie campaign last year. While he transitions to that new role, he’ll be doing so with a new quarterbacks coach – Brian Griese. It’ll be Griese’s first time coaching, and his earliest lessons for Lance and the 49ers quarterbacks have nothing to do with the playbook or reading defenses.
Griese spoke with Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle and detailed his path to the 49ers QB coaching gig and why he took on the project.
What stuck out though was the early foundation Griese aimed to lay with Lance, Nate Sudfeld and Brock Purdy. That foundation has little to do with what goes on between the lines.
“Some of the things we talked about were to be part of something bigger than yourself. Humility,” Griese said via the SF Chronicle. “To make your family proud with how you operate every single day. To compete and win. Those things are not negotiable. To be a lifelong learner. To grow. To get out of your comfort zone.”
Griese’s insights are fascinating, but finding that ground off the field to stand on might be one of the biggest keys for Lance in his first year as a starter. It’s all but certain that Lance will go through some growing pains. Every quarterback does, much less one that started just 17 games and threw 318 passes in college.
Learning early on how to deal with those highs and lows may be a significant difference maker for Lance’s development during his rookie campaign. How he fends off the adversity that arises from a bad throw or a bad series will ultimately determine just how successful he is in the NFL.
Griese may be a first-time coach, but he’s been through the wringer as a starting NFL quarterback. If his early tutelage is helpful, he may just be one of the 49ers’ biggest offseason additions.