On Thursday, the San Francisco 49ers will take the field for one final preseason tuneup before they start the regular season on September 11 versus the Chicago Bears.
The Niners will take on the Houston Texans, and therefore, one may expect the game to be, at least on its face value, a snoozefest.
However, fans will have plenty of reason to watch this contest and pay some pretty close attention.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that he will look to play his first-string men against Houston.
“Most of the guys who didn’t dress for this game should be able — we’d like to get in this game, it won’t be all of them,” said Shanahan. “But we’d like the starters to be able to, most of the starters, to be able to play in this game.”
In general, starters play very few, if any, snaps during NFL preseason games, as coaches want to prevent ill-timed injuries from occurring before the regular season schedule has even begun.
But the 49ers are in a different situation, as they have a new starting quarterback in Trey Lance, meaning there is some chemistry that needs to be built offensively during real-life game situations.
In an attempt to balance protecting his men with building that chemistry for Week 1, Shanahan will only play Lance and his other starters in the first half on Thursday.
#49ers HC Kyle Shanahan stated that Trey Lance and the starters will only play the first half against the Texans, per @MaioccoNBCS pic.twitter.com/AUVBvzpGyj
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) August 23, 2022
One More Tune-Up For Lance
Lance looked promising, if not impressive, in his first preseason game nearly two weeks ago versus the Green Bay Packers.
He threw a long bomb to rookie wide receiver Danny Gray for a touchdown, but before that, he showed good pocket awareness, as well as the ability to shift away from defensive pressure and turn a possible sack into a strong yardage gain with his legs.
According to reports, he has been pretty accurate during practice games against his teammates, although there have been a few rough outings, and he has occasionally had some issues with accuracy and throwing interceptions.
But it seems he has been trending upward during these scrimmages.
Thursday will be an opportunity for Niners faithful to get another look at Lance and get a glimpse at what he’s truly able to do in actual game situations and what he may become not too long from now.
It will also be an opportunity for Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and George Kittle, all of whom haven’t played in the preseason yet, to learn how to play with their new signal-caller.
An Opportunity For Young Players To Shine
In addition to Gray, the 49ers have a handful of young players who have looked promising so far in camp and preseason games.
They will have an opportunity on Thursday to show Shanahan they are worthy of some significant playing time in the regular season.
Defensive end Drake Jackson, a rookie from the University of Southern California, has been impressive at times with his ability to pressure opposing QBs and muck up their team’s passing game.
Seems like the 49ers got a steal with Drake Jackson pic.twitter.com/6F2thweJWH
— KNBR (@KNBR) August 22, 2022
Cornerback Samuel Womack is another rookie the team has high hopes for, while it will probably want to get another look at young running backs such as Tyrion Davis-Price and Jordan Mason.
