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SANTA CLARA, Calif .– San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance was thrown into last week’s halftime game on short notice. This week, there is no such uncertainty.
Lance will make his first NFL start on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals 4-0, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said on Friday. The announcement comes after a week in which Lance took the reps with the starting offense with starter Jimmy Garoppolo facing a strained and bruised right calf.
Garoppolo is listed on Friday’s injury report after he hasn’t trained all week. This means that it will be Lance who starts off and veteran Nate Sudfeld should be brought up from the practice squad to serve as Lance’s replacement.
Lance, who turns 21 and 154 days on Sunday, will become the fourth youngest quarterback upon his first NFL start. He will also look to become just the second quarterback (joining Phil Simms in 1979) selected in the first round to secure his first start against a team that is 4-0 or better.
Although this is Lance’s first start, he has just completed his first extended playing time. He replaced Garoppolo at halftime in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, learning he was entering the game moments before the start of the third quarter. After a few unstable first moments, he calmed down a bit in a performance that Shanahan said was “good and bad”.
Lance finished this game 9 of 18 for 157 yards with two touchdowns and ran seven times for 41 yards. Having the full week of training with the starters not only made Lance feel more comfortable, but also gave the 49ers the opportunity to work out a game plan with more Lance-specific games.
On Wednesday, Garoppolo was hoping he could play against the Cardinals, but admitted he would “fight” the calf injury rather than be perfectly healthy.
That was an important distinction considering Garoppolo tried to come back too quickly from a sprained ankle in the Week 5 loss to the Miami Dolphins last year. A clearly hampered Garoppolo went 7 of 17 for 77 yards without a touchdown and two interceptions before heading to the bench in that 43-17 loss.
This week, Garoppolo is expected to be inactive before the game, but with the Niners heading for a Week 6 break, the team will be hoping he can be healthy for the Oct. 24 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Garoppolo said on Wednesday that while he hopes to play this week, he also spends time helping Lance prepare when possible.
“It’s a bit of a balancing act,” Garoppolo said. “If Trey has any questions, anything that I’ve just run in the past that hasn’t run, [I’m] help him in any way with that. “
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