MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

lol, I looked it up...





I really thought Gardner was a cool guy... then I saw he plays guitar too. He's BEYOND cool, inexplicably cool.

 

With Brock Purdy presumably sidelined until at least training camp, San Francisco 49ers third-year quarterback Trey Lance has a golden opportunity in front of him — one that former No. 3 overall pick isn’t taking lightly.

According to head coach Kyle Shanahan, Lance showed up to the 49ers offseason program likely the healthiest he’s been since the team drafted him, which bodes well for his chances to hold off Sam Darnold for the team’s No. 1 QB job, at least until Purdy is fully healthy.

“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 said, via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco. “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.”

Shanahan disclosed that Lance suffered a fractured index finger in his throwing hand during the 2021 preseason, which hampered his ability to grip the ball and throw it accurately since it did not heal correctly.

That injury, Shanahan stated, forced Lance to alter his grip and spend the entire season throwing the ball with a foreign grip.

“He spent a whole year throwing without a bent finger, which changed everything and shows the toughness of the kid that he never complained about it,” Shanahan said. “He tried to adjust so he could be out there.”

Since Lance has spent the last eight-plus months recovering from a season-ending broken ankle suffered in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks last season, his finger has had plenty of time to heal, as has his ankle.


Lance is expected to compete with Darnold throughout OTAs and training camp for first-team reps while Purdy is recovering from Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow.

While the 49ers still consider Purdy to be the team’s No. 1 QB long term, a well-rested Lance has an opportunity to either play well enough to hold on to his job or, at the very worst, showcase his skills should another team make the 49ers a trade offer good enough to pry the 23-year-old quarterback away from them.

YARDBARKER

 

So if he gets convicted of anything does his time in the bus count as time served?

 

Ben Roethlisberger: I didn’t want Kenny Pickett to play so well that people said, “Ben who?”

Ben Roethlisberger admits that he was ambivalent about Kenny Pickett following in his footsteps as the Steelers’ franchise quarterback.

Roethlisberger had Pickett as the guest on his podcast and told Pickett that he was nervous about Pickett playing so well that people would be glad the Steelers moved on.

“I’ll be completely honest, I’ll be super transparent here and I’m gonna get blasted,” Roethlisberger said. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but who cares at this point. I wouldn’t say that I wanted Kenny to necessarily fail, but when someone comes to replace you, I still feel like I had it, I hope he doesn’t come ball out. Because then it’s like, Ben who?”

Roethlisberger said that especially in Pickett’s first few starts, it was hard to want him to win.

“Early on I didn’t want you to succeed because you followed me up, I didn’t want it to happen. I think that’s probably the selfishness of me, and I feel bad for it,” Roethlisberger said.

But Roethlisberger told Pickett that after watching him, he came to appreciate him.

“As you started playing, I found myself rooting more and more for you,” Roethlisberger told Pickett. “I wanted you to succeed, I wanted you to win games, I wanted you to go in the playoffs. I feel bad that I felt that early on but I’m glad I transitioned to loving and rooting for you.”

Pickett told Roethlisberger that he appreciates his support, and his candor. Roethlisberger is surely not the only great player who feels that way after walking away.

PFT

 

Like the honesty here the plain talk

 

How dare you insinuate this man is anything less than perfect

 

Frank Reich: Bryce Young’s command was “10 out of 10” on first day of OTAs



OTAs have gotten going on Monday with No. 1 pick Bryce Young taking the majority of first-team snaps at the Panthers’ first spring practice.

Head coach Frank Reich was complimentary of all three quarterbacks on the roster in his post-practice press conference, saying Young, Andy Dalton, and Matt Corral displayed strong decision-making and ball placement. But the story with the club’s QBs is going to be how quickly Young adapts to the pro game as the club gets this year’s top draftee ready to play.

When asked specifically about Young on Monday, Reich called the young QB’s command “10 out of 10.”

“Just complete command, control, poise,” Reich said. “You could tell the way he was seeing it, the way he was working through progressions, accuracy in the throw, ball placement of the throw, it was all very good.”

Reich also noted that he feels like it’s a good thing to have a veteran like Dalton on the roster, too.

“It’s really good for Bryce to kind of see Andy handle things the way he’s handled things,” Reich said. “And, obviously, Bryce has picked it up extremely fast. But it feels like we’ve got a good plan and we’re doing the right thing.”

While there aren’t any contact practices in the spring, the Panthers still plan to have Young get his reps with the first-team offensive line, Reich said. The club is especially cognizant of who’s playing center when Young is in.

There’s a long way to go between now and Week One, but so far Young has checked every box when it comes to potentially being a Day One starter.

PFT

 

Patrick Mahomes Had Massive Impact on 49ers’ Lance During Workouts, QB Coach Says

Trey Lance has not stopped his efforts to improve at the quarterback position, despite Brock Purdy being slated to be the 49ers’ starting quarterback after the departure of Jimmy Garoppolo to the Raiders.

But, Lance has been limited in his growth because of significant injuries in his first two NFL seasons. During his rookie year, Lance broke his right index finger which created lingering effects throughout his first season. In the 2022 campaign, he sustained a broken ankle in the first quarter of the 49ers’ road game against their NFC West rival Rams in Week 2 and missed the remainder of the season.

However, as San Francisco prepares to open its offseason training activities next week, Lance will look exceedingly different. Jeff Christensen, a private quarterbacks coach, paired Lance with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during a series of workouts in Dallas in early March to work on his throwing motion.

Christensen told The Athletic that when Lance “stood behind Mahomes” and watched the two-time MVP throw during the session that things began to become a lot easier for the 23-year-old.

“It was something I was telling him [Lance] to do that he wasn’t quite doing,” Christensen said. “And then he saw Patrick [Mahomes] apply it perfectly. And I think that visual buy-in, that mental buy-in, helped him past that mental hump. …To his credit he just kept getting better.”

Lance has completed 54.9% of his passes through four meager NFL starts. But with Lance’s improvement, it should help with his accuracy as well as limiting his arm soreness.

Since San Francisco started its offseason program in April, Christensen also told The Athletic that Lance had not not experienced any soreness in his arm, compared to experiencing nearly three days of discomfort after each workout. While the 49ers signed veteran signal caller Sam Darnold during the offseason to compete for the starting job, Lance—despite having thrown only 102 NFL passes—could make things interesting throughout the summer, pending his growth.

SI
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Be interesting if it came back to bite Mahomes when a Lance lead 49ers knock the Chiefs out of the SB.

 

Yeah, something tells me that they (Chiefs) aren't worried about Mahomes turning him into an unstoppable force by working out with him in the off season for a couple of sessions. A QB can't just magically transfer their talent to another player.

Jeff Christensen is trying to get more players to his facility... I would be surprised if he said something different than what he did. This was a case of Christensen name dropping to help his business, nothing more.

The thing that would worry me as a 49ers coach is if it were anything more than that is, if I need to teach him something and he can't comprehend what that something is without seeing a world class athlete do it in front of him... They may never be able to help him improve. They can't afford to hire Patrick Mahomes to be their QB coaching assistant.

 

NFL owners pass proposal to allow teams to have third QB active on game days without using roster spot

The NFL has moved to avoid another quarterback debacle like the one that plagued the San Francisco 49ers in this past year's NFC Championship Game.

NFL owners approved a bylaw proposal on Monday at the Spring League Meeting allowing clubs to dress a third QB without using an active roster spot on game days, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported, per sources informed of the decision.

The league cited on Monday "integrity of game" as the chief reason for the rule change.

The league previously had a third-quarterback rule in effect from 1991-2010 before doing away with the option. Now it's back.

The emergency quarterback rule came to the forefront this offseason after the 49ers, already riddled with signal-caller injuries, saw starter Brock Purdy injure his elbow on the first series of the NFC title game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Backup Josh Johnson sustained a concussion in the third quarter. That forced Purdy to re-enter the contest, but the quarterback couldn't do more than toss two short passes. The quandary left the Niners' offense dead in the water, and the Eagles ran away with the conference title.

With clubs now allowed to dress an emergency QB, the hope is viewers will avoid watching such a disaster again.


Full language of the updated bylaw:

One hour and 30 minutes prior to kickoff, each club is required to establish its Active List for the game by notifying the Referee of the players on its Inactive List for that game. Each club may also designate one emergency third quarterback from its 53-player Active/Inactive List (i.e., elevated players are not eligible for designation) who will be eligible to be activated during the game, if the club's first two quarterbacks on its game day Active List are not able to participate in the game due to injury or disqualification (activation cannot be a result of a head coach's in-game decision to remove a player from the game due to performance or conduct). If either of the injured quarterbacks is cleared by the medical staff to return to play, the emergency third quarterback must be removed from the game and is not permitted to continue to play quarterback or any other position, but is eligible to return to the game to play quarterback if another emergency third quarterback situation arises.

A club is not eligible to use these procedures if it carries three quarterbacks on its game day Active List [47- or 48-players in 2023].

NFL.com

 

That means Rudolph will gets a helmet this season.

 

Aaron Rodgers tweaked calf, doesn’t think it’s serious

A report has shed some more light on why Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t take part in drills in Tuesday’s organized team activity.

Rodgers stretched and warmed up with the team before returning inside for a brief time. He returned to watch the rest of the practice with his helmet off, but could be seen moving with a slight limp while moving around the field.

Josina Anderson of CBS Sports reports that Rodgers is dealing with a strained calf and that the injury is considered minor, which is likely why Rodgers was out at practice instead of receiving treatment. Rodgers is not expected to be off the field for long, but no one will be pushing anything in May.

Zach Wilson, Tim Boyle, and Chris Streveler will handle the quarterback duties until Rodgers is ready to get back into drills.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. ET: Rodgers held a press conference with reporters and confirmed that he tweaked his calf.

“I don’t think it’s too serious,” Rodgers said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com.

 

Justin Fields: I’m not worried about contracts, I’m worried about wins



Bears quarterback Justin Fields is about to embark on his third season, which is particularly significant when it comes to first-round picks.

While all players are eligible for a contract extension after completing their third season, teams also have to choose whether or not to exercise the fully guaranteed fifth-year option on first-rounders like Fields.

But when Fields was asked about his approach to the 2023 season with a potential new deal on the line, Fields made it clear that’s not on his mind.

“I think every year is a big year,” Fields said in his Tuesday press conference. “So, I mean, yeah — I don’t really have anything to expand on that. But for me, every year is a big year and I’m excited to show.

“I’m not worried about contracts, I’m worried about wins. I could care less.”

With the Bears adding some significant offensive pieces around Fields for the upcoming season, the prevailing thought is that there are no more excuses for the young QB’s performance. But Fields doesn’t necessarily see it that way.

“For me, I just try not to make excuses,” Fields said. “I feel like I said this multiple times last year — no matter what the situation is, I’m going to go out there on the field and play my hardest for my teammates, for my coaches. So, that’s kind of how I look at it. I never really was looking at it as excuses, if that’s the answer to your question.”

The No. 11 pick of the 2021 draft, Fields completed 60.4 percent of his passes for 2,242 yards with 17 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, though he was sacked a league-leading 55 times and had a league-leading 16 fumbles. But, Fields rushed for 1,143 yards with eight touchdowns — averaging a league-high 7.1 yards per carry.

PFT

 

Kyle Shanahan: Brock Purdy to begin throwing soon, optimistic he’ll be available Week One



There is some positive news regarding 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.

Purdy remains on schedule in his rehab from elbow surgery and is slated to start throwing sometime next week, head coach Kyle Shanahan said in his Tuesday press conference.

Shanahan said the quarterback is still doing well and the club is optimistic that he’ll be available for the start of the regular season.

“It’s not really that it’s a moving target, it’s that only God knows and it’s all estimates,” Shanahan said. “So, it depends on what ‘people’ have got for me. But I mean, we’re hoping for Week One and feeling pretty optimistic about that. That’s what we’re hoping for, he’ll be ready to play in Week One.

“And usually that doesn’t mean that’s the day he comes back — usually you’ve got to come before that to make that goal. And that’s kind of the goal we’re hoping for and don’t have any reason to think differently.”

While the 49ers do have Trey Lance and Sam Darnold on their roster, Shanahan and G.M. John Lynch have made it clear that Purdy is set to be their starting quarterback if he’s healthy. In staying on schedule as he has, Purdy has put himself in a good position to be behind center when San Francisco starts the season against the Steelers.

PFT

 

Which fan base is more delusional about how good their QB is?

 

NEW YORK FREEKIN JETS, PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I wouldn't say the fan base is delusional. Just the head coach, though he kinda has to say something to support Purdy in light of Purdy's performance last year.

Most of the SF fans that I work with are convinced Trey Lance will be the opening day starter, and the conversations are mainly me telling them not to sell Sam Darnold short either, as Darnold put up QB ratings of 100+ in four of the six games he played after coming off of IR last year.

 

There's also some homer around here who keeps insisting that Desmond Ridder is better than the media thinks and that the Falcons are better than the 25th team in the league...

 

Don't call me a homer for the Falcons!!

 

Cant for the life of me place who that might be.