Steve Young said earlier this week that seeing Trey Lance in the 49ers' Week 4 loss to the Seattle Seahawks reminded him of his early NFL days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While speaking to reporters Friday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan explained why he understands Young's sentiment about seeing shades of himself in the rookie quarterback.
“I can see why he says that," Shanahan said. "I was pretty young when Steve first started, but I have an idea of it. And Steve, I don't know when he first started, if it was always good or bad, but he was running around and getting after it. And so, I think he always gave his teams a chance to win, regardless.
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"I think Steve became, basically the later parts I know Steve from when I was in high school at least, he was a surgeon. I mean, the ball went to that right spot every time. I don't know if that was always the case, but that's how it is for a lot of people in this league.
"When you start out, it takes time to get that automatic at stuff like that and very few people do get there. But guys like Steve, in the meantime while he learned, he was still making a ton of plays, and I think that's how he could relate to him.”
Lance was flattered to be compared to a Hall of Fame QB like Young.
"That's a credit to the coaching staff and the guys around me," Lance said. "Those guys that have made me feel very confident this week. And I feel confident in myself, just as I did going into the Seattle game and just as I did every other week before this.
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"But I'm definitely not going to put my name up there with that guy's name at all. But yeah, that's pretty cool that he's talking about me as well. But excited and feel ready for the week.”
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Young's rookie season in Tampa Bay was quite the struggle in 1985. He completed 52.2 percent of his passes and tossed three touchdowns and nine interceptions, as the Bucs went 1-4 in those games.
Lance faces a tough test in his first NFL start, as Jimmy Garoppolo being ruled out led Shanahan to name the No. 3 overall draft pick QB1 against the undefeated Arizona Cardinals on the road. Arizona's defense has the third-most takeaways in the NFL this season and ranks ninth in scoring defense through four weeks.