How the 49ers Plan to Shut Down Trevor Lawrence

You can only imagine what Shanahan has said to his players privately about Lawrence this week in his team meetings.

I get the feeling Kyle Shanahan doesn't think highly of Trevor Lawrence.

The 49ers will face him this Sunday in Jacksonville. On Wednesday, Shanahan was asked how Lawrence looks compared to two years ago when he was a rookie and the 49ers beat him and held him to 158 passing yards and no touchdown passes.

"Very similar," Shanahan said. "I think Trevor is one of the more talented quarterbacks in this league. He's a problem at any time. The height he has, the size he has in that pocket. He can make any throw and what he can do with his legs on any type of play, whether it's a designed run for him or just getting out of the pocket and doing off-schedule stuff. He's always a problem."

TRANSLATION: He hasn't improved much since his rookie season. He's talented, which means he's big, fast and has a strong arm -- that's why he was the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft. But he's not refined. Hasn't mastered his craft the way Shanahan thinks Kirk Cousins has.

You can only imagine what Shanahan has said to his players privately about Lawrence this week in his team meetings.

Nick Bosa may have given us a hint of what Shanahan said. Here's what Bosa said Wednesday about stopping Lawrence: "You stop the run and the screens and the RPOs and the quick game and you try to force him to play quarterback, play the position, go through reads."

Sounds like something Shanahan would say in a team meeting.

Sounds like the 49ers' defensive game plan is to play tight coverage for a change and force Lawrence to hold the ball longer than he's used to behind a bad Jaguars offensive line.

If Lawrence is as remedial of a quarterback as Shanahan and Bosa think he is, the game plan should work beautifully.

We'll see if the 49ers have underestimated yet another opponent.