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Analyzing Day 1 of the 49ers Quarterback Competition

As far as I could tell, the quarterback competition kicked off Wednesday at training camp.

Grant Cohn

Kyle Shanahan says the 49ers aren't having a quarterback competition this offseason.

I don't believe him.

As far as I could tell, the quarterback competition kicked off Wednesday at training camp, as both Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance played with the top receivers on the team -- Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle.

Here's what stood out from both quarterbacks.

JIMMY GAROPPOLO

He played the best I've ever seen him play in training camp. He completed 9 of 11 pass attempts, and made a few "wow" plays. First, on third and long, in the face of a blitzing Fred Warner, Garoppolo flicked a pass off his back foot to Trent Sherfield for a first down. Call that vintage Garoppolo. Next, on third and five, Garoppolo scrambled to his right and fired a pass on the run to Aiyuk for a first down. Finally, Garoppolo faked a handoff, rolled left and, without setting his feet, completed a 20-yard pass over a defender to Aiyuk. 

Garoppolo looks sharp and confident, which is great news for the Houston Texans, who might want to trade for Garoppolo when they finally deal Deshaun Watson. If Garoppolo keeps playing like he did today, the Texans just might trade a first rounder for him.

TREY LANCE

As well as Garoppolo played, Lance was even better, because he did things Garoppolo can't. Both were extremely efficient -- Lance completed 8 of 10 pass attempts -- but Lance also completed two deep throws and Garoppolo didn't attempt any. First, Lance threw a perfect deep touchdown pass up the left sideline to Deebo Samuel. Later, Lance completed another deep pass up the left sideline, this time to George Kittle. Finally, Lance scrambled to his right and fired a 20-yard pass to Travis Benjamin. Lance made that look easy. 

And while he played with the second-team offensive line, he completed one pass to Aiyuk, one to Samuel and one to Kittle. So Lance is getting reps with starters. And so far, he looks outstanding. But the 49ers still haven't practiced in pads, and won't until Day 6 of training camp this year. Stay tuned. This quarterback competition is just getting started.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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