SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (calf) has been officially ruled out, and rookie Trey Lance will start Sunday on the road against the Arizona Cardinals, head coach Kyle Shanahan announced Friday.
Sunday will mark Lance’ first start since Oct. 3, 2020 when he was a junior at North Dakota State.
Lance is relatively inexperienced compared to other rookie quarterbacks with only 318 career pass attempts in college, according to Sports Reference. New York Jets’ rookie Zach Wilson had over 800 pass attempts at BYU while Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Trevor Lawrence had over 1,100 attempts at Clemson.
After Garoppolo went down last week against the Seattle Seahawks, Lance took over and completed 9-of-18 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
For the season, Lance recorded 11 rush attempts for 44 yards and one touchdown, according to NFL.com
Lance will likely not have all-pro tight end George Kittle to throw to as he is listed as ‘doubtful,’ according to KRON4’s Kate Rooney.
Since Garoppolo’s first full season with the 49ers in 2018, he has missed 24 of 53 regular-season games as of Week 5 due to injury.
Garoppolo missed 13 games in 2018 due to a torn ACL and missed 10 games in 2020 due to a high-ankle sprain.