Trey Lance delivers early in his 49ers’ debut

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance impressed early in his NFL debut. Might Kyle Shanahan have not choice but to start him?

For a good portion of the preseason a storyline to follow has been the quarterback battle in San Francisco between veteran passer Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie QB Trey Lance. Lance, drafted third-overall by the organization, made his NFL debut on Saturday night.

It did not take long for the rookie to shine.

Lance took over for the 49ers offense on the second possession of the game, and the San Francisco offense sputtered and was forced to punt. His second NFL possession, however, lasted a single play:

This is a beautiful design from Kyle Shanahan, executed to perfection from Lance and wide receiver Trent Sherfield. The 49ers show run, with Lance faking a handoff to the right side before rolling to his left. Sherfield begins the play on that side of the formation and runs a post route, deep and away from the direction of Lance’s rollout. No matter. The rookie drops in an incredible throw, away form the direction of his rollout, for the touchdown.

This is the kind of play that needs multiple angles. There is this field-level view from the NFL:

And then this replay angle shared by Kyle Posey, who covers the 49ers for SB Nation:

From this angle, you can see how the play develops, as well as the arm talent from Lance. The 49ers come out in a heavy personnel package, and the Chiefs respond with a base personnel grouping of their own. Lance rolls to the left and outside of the left hashmark, letting this throw go from his own 13-yard line. Sherfield’s route takes him outside of the opposite hashmark, and he hauls in the pass on the Chiefs’ 42-yard line, well outside the bottom of the numbers.

Pythagoras might have something to say about that throw.

Lance’s night has not ended. He followed that play with this impressive throw out of his own end zone:

In a similar vein, the 49ers use a heavy personnel package and off of play-action, Lance drops in this throw on the out route to his tight end with near-perfect timing, rhythm and anticipation.

As you might expect, throws like these have 49ers fans clamoring for Lance to secure the starting spot for Week 1. While Kyle Shanahan has continued to downplay the odds that his rookie passer will indeed start the season-opener, Lance’s debut might just force his hand. Maybe, just maybe, we should have seen this coming.