By: Andy Davies

The San Francisco 49ers are one of the most successful franchises in NFL history. Only the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers (both 6) have more Super Bowl wins than the 49ers (5). The 49ers’ five Super Bowls all came between the years of 1981 and 1994. They have lost two since, in the 2012 and 2019 seasons. The quarterbacks that led the 49ers to the Lombardi Trophy were Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Steve Young. Three of those five wins saw Montana as the starter and Young as the backup.

Young is seen by many as the best backup quarterback in history, considering the gold jacket that he earned despite many years as the backup to Montana. He would win a Super Bowl as the starter after the franchise moved on from Montana. Ever since Young decided to hang up his cleats, the 49ers have struggled to find his replacement. Have they found the guy in Trey Lance?

Perhaps, but here is why the quarterback situation involving Lance and current starter Jimmy Garoppolo could prevent the 49ers from winning the NFC West during the 2021 season.

Struggles Since Young

Jeff Garcia was the man to come in for Young. During his five seasons in the Bay, he threw for 113 touchdowns and 56 interceptions as well as 16,408 passing yards. He had a 35-36 record as a starter for the 49ers in the regular season and a 1-2 record in the postseason, meaning he never hit the heights of his predecessor.

Alex Smith was the number one overall pick in 2005, shattering Aaron Rodgers’ dreams. However, he was a good quarterback, not a great quarterback. Colin Kaepernick replaced Smith and took the 49ers to the Super Bowl. They ended up losing to the Baltimore Ravens in a game often called the ”˜Blackout Bowl’. Kaepernick failed to live up to the standards he set that season.

He would be kicked out of the league for taking the knee in a protest against police brutality in 2016. He has not played a snap in the NFL since. Jimmy Garoppolo was traded from the Patriots to the 49ers midway through the 2017 season. He gave hope to the organization after winning all five of the games he started in 2017. The fanbase had hope going into the 2018 season.

Many non-49ers fans had San Francisco down as their dark horse for the season. A season-ending injury to Garoppolo in Week 3 saw the starting role shared between Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard. However, the 49ers finished 4-12 as they went into 2019 with the second overall pick. Nick Bosa was selected and transformed the defense of San Francisco and Jimmy G had the best season of his career. He threw for 3,978 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Despite these stats, Garoppolo saw his production limited in the NFC Championship game as the coaching staff decided to use more of their running game. This led to many questions leading to the Super Bowl. The 49ers threw away a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter as they would end up losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 54.

Garoppolo was criticized heavily for an overthrown pass to Emmanuel Sanders that would have given San Francisco back the lead. His 2020 season saw a mixture of poor form and injury. During the 2021 offseason, the 49ers traded up with the Miami Dolphins to gain the number three overall pick. They took Lance with the pick, showcasing their intentions to eventually move off from Garoppolo. There is now talk of whether San Francisco and head coach Kyle Shanahan will start Lance in week one. The other scenarios discussed are either Lance coming in mid-season or sitting out the whole campaign as the backup to Garoppolo. The uncertainty will have a significant impact on the 49ers’ season.

The Strength of the NFC West

This is a problem that will affect all four teams in the best division in the NFL. There is a chance that all four teams can make the playoffs. Los Angeles has an exciting new quarterback in 2009 first overall pick Matthew Stafford. Both the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals have quarterbacks in Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray that they would never dream of trading away. Meanwhile, the 49ers’ starting quarterback is largely unpopular by fans, due to a mixture of the overthrown pass in the Super Bowl, his poor 2020 campaign and his injury record.

San Francisco has the least trusted quarterback in the division. With the position being one of the most crucial in all sports, it does not bode well for a team when there is uncertainty in the position. Garoppolo may be benched at some point during the season for Lance. However, the 49ers would be putting a rookie that will still be learning the system into the toughest division in the NFL.

Learning From Mahomes, Jackson, Tua and Burrow

If San Francisco are to help Lance succeed, they will need to take some lessons from recent draft classes. Patrick Mahomes, widely seen as the best quarterback in the league, spent all but one game of his 2017 rookie season as a backup to Alex Smith. The Chiefs then traded Smith the following offseason and Mahomes has never looked back. In his first three full seasons as a starter in the NFL, he has reached two Super Bowls, winning one. He has also been crowned MVP and Super Bowl MVP and reached three successive AFC Championship games. All three have been at home. On the flip side, 2020 first overall pick Joe Burrow started in week one of his rookie year. He wouldn’t last the season, only playing ten games before injury curtailed his first NFL campaign. He was impressive before his injury but there are no guarantees he will be the same player when he returns.

Lamar Jackson was a backup to Joe Flacco during his 2018 rookie year but won the starting role midseason. He has since gone on to win an MVP award and is the future of the franchise. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins brought Tua Tagovailoa in mid-season but he struggled in his rookie season. He is seen to already be on the hot seat, with many feeling the Dolphins rushed him in. These examples all show there are reasons for the 49ers to be hasty when it comes to choosing when to bring Lance into the starting role.

Lance Or Garoppolo In 2021?

The 49ers will have to decide soon who their starter will be in 2021. Considering Lance has only played one full season (2019), he is likely to start the season as the backup. He only threw for a combined total of 31 passing attempts, two touchdowns and 1 interception across the 2018 and 2020 seasons, albeit the latter campaign being disrupted by the pandemic. He is likely to be a work in progress but his 28 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in 2019 mean that he is one for the future.

Garoppolo will likely start in week one but it was clear from the NFC Championship game that Shanahan doesn’t completely trust him.

Jimmy G is a capable quarterback but his health is a concern. Expect Garoppolo to remain as the starter provided the 49ers are winning games but for Lance to come in should Garoppolo either be injured or start the season poorly.

Should this happen, this will be the end of Garoppolo’s time in San Francisco. Depending on timing, he will then be traded either before the deadline or in the 2022 offseason.

Can The 49ers Returning Players Avoid A Repeat Of 2020?

This is key if the 49ers are to challenge for both the NFC West and the NFC. After earning the number one seed and reaching Super Bowl 54 during the 2019 campaign, San Francisco finished 6-10 in 2020 and bottom of the division. A ”˜Super Bowl Hangover’ played its part but the main cause of such a decline was down to a colossal amount of injuries the team suffered. Along with the aforementioned Garoppolo, the 49ers also saw Bosa, Dee Ford, George Kittle, Raheem Mostert, Deebo Samuel and Solomon Thomas miss large chunks of the 2020 season due to injury.

San Francisco had 33 players reported questionable and there were 186 occasions when the 49ers reported a player on injured reserve. They had the second-most injuries of any team in the NFL over the past twenty years. Should all these players come back, then this 49ers roster will be one of the best in the league. This will make life much easier for whoever the San Francisco starting quarterback is.

However, from the strength of the division to the uncertainty at quarterback, San Francisco will find it tough to win the NFC West.

The post Why the QB situation may prevent the 49ers from winning the NFC West appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

By: Will Baptist

Matthew Stafford’s play has been somewhat erratic throughout his career, but being traded to the Los Angeles Rams will prove to be a blessing. The Detroit Lions are in disarray and have been one of the most dysfunctional organizations over the past 30 years. Stafford desperately needed a fresh start to prove that he can still be a top-10 QB in the NFL.

Stafford led them to the playoffs on three separate occasions, but was never able to secure a playoff victory. The Lions have not won a playoff game since 1991, and it seems they are starting all over once again.

Stafford was the first overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and has one of the biggest arms in the NFL. In his 12-year tenure with the Lions, he compiled 45,109 passing yards and 282 passing touchdowns and broke a multitude of records.

Stafford had some outstanding seasons with the Lions, and showed true greatness. His best season was back in 2011, when he completed 63.5% of his passes and threw for 5,038 yards, 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Stafford was one of the QBs in the NFL at throwing the deep ball, especially when Calvin Johnson was in Detroit.

The Lions simply never had a talented enough roster for Stafford to get them over the hump. They had a horrid defense throughout his time there, and never had a stable run game. Stafford is now with a proven coaching staff and offensive guru in Sean McVay, with a Super Bowl ready roster. Stafford will not have to force the issue, and he is now set up to have the best season of his career at 33 years old.

The talent on the Rams roster

The Rams are a drastically better organization than the Lions, and their roster is a perfect fit for Stafford to step in and dominate. Outside of Calvin Johnson, the Lions did not surround Stafford with much talent, while also having one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL.

Cooper Kupp is one of the best slot receivers in the NFL, and he is poised for a huge season in 2021. He played in 15 games last year and caught 92 balls for 974 yards and three touchdowns. That was a down year for Kupp compared to his stellar 2019 season, where he caught 94 balls for 1,161 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Robert Woods has been a model of consistency since arriving in Los Angeles. Over the past three seasons, Woods has 266 catches, 3,289 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns. Last year was his first season under 1,000 receiving yards since 2017, but he should eclipse 1,000 yards easily with Stafford under center.

Van Jefferson was one of the Rams second round picks in 2020, but he was not used very often last season. All signs are pointing towards a breakout season for Jefferson, according to the reports from the Rams camp. McVay is extremely high on him and now that Josh Reynolds has left the team, Jefferson can step into that role immediately.

Cam Akers was the other second round pick in 2020 for the Rams and he is in line to be the every down back this season. He took over as the lead back for the last four games and their two postseason games and looked like a veteran. In the last six games, he totaled 561 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. He is running behind one of the best offensive lines in football, which will help Stafford immensely as well.

A lot of offensive players had a down season for the Rams last year because of how poor Jared Goff played. His inability to throw the ball down the field made it much easier for opposing defenses to defend the Rams. Stafford is one of the most gifted quarterbacks in the NFL in terms of arm talent, which bodes well for all of the Rams skill positions to have a bounce back year.

Jared Goff’s production with the Rams

Goff was the first overall pick in 2016, but he did not live up to the hype. Stafford proved that he should have been taken first overall with his talent and production, while Goff was wildly underwhelming throughout his time with the Rams. Goff’s only good seasons with the Rams were 2017 and 2018.

In 2017, Goff led the Rams to an 11-4 record for the 15 games that he played. He completed 62.1% of his passes and threw for 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His play was up and down, but he kept the mistakes to a minimum and showed that he may have been worth the first overall pick.

Regardless of Goff being inconsistent, he was still able to have great production and lead his team to a Super Bowl in 2018. During that season, he completed 64.9% of his passes and threw for 4,688 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and led his team to a 13-3 record. He was atrocious in the Super Bowl in their 13-3 loss, and Bill Belichick laid out the blueprint on how to disrupt Goff by constantly getting pressure on him.

McVay set Goff up for success and surrounded him with extremely talented playmakers for those two seasons. He had Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods all making their presence felt, while McVay was a mastermind at drawing plays up that Goff could handle.

Goff showed flashes of being good throughout his time with the Rams, but overall his play was disappointing. If they had better quarterback play in 2018, they could have won the Super Bowl without question.

The Rams were one of the best offenses in the NFL during Goff’s time there, even though Goff was below average. Stafford is a much better player than Goff in every aspect, and with how genius McVay is at running an offense, the sky is the limit for Stafford in Los Angeles.

The post Why Matthew Stafford is set up for a career season appeared first on Pro Football Mania.