Quietly, the 49ers have replaced quarterback coach Rich Scangarell this past season with former NFL quarterback Brian Griese, who has never coached in his life. Scangarello is now the coordinator of the offensive at the University of Kentucky.
Why have the 49ers changed?
Scangarello went on a podcast this season with Greg Cosell and explained how he rates quarterbacks that qualify for the draft. Here is what Scangerallo said. Tell me if he sounds like someone who wanted to coach Trey Lance:
Q: What real estate quarterback teams are looking for in the NFL?
SCANGARELLO: “The bottom line is do they have the strength to stand in their pocket when they are hit and delivered when it’s most important? If you can’t do that and you can’t show it to me on your college tape, I think it’s very hard for you to be top quarterback in the NFL.I would say this is where most people in the grading process run into problems when they don’t actually realize that one trait, in a questionable pocket, how quarterback plays a game in college football and really rates those moments in a guy’s career . “
Q: There are a lot of quarterbacks in university football that often don’t work out of muddy, noisy pockets. You and I talked about Trevor Lawrence last summer, and while we reviewed all of his tape, there were only 34 plays in which he actually worked through a muddy pocket with noise, and that’s obviously not a big sample to judge his ability for that at the NFL level.
SCANGARELLO: “If you judge someone to throw in the air, or if he’s in a college system where the coach tells him where to throw the ball before shooting and knows a small amount of play, which is good against certain coverage, those things don’t really mean anything to me If you watch (Pro Day) training that the guy went through 20 times and his coach taught him the routine and you think it will go to determine his value in this league, I think you will miss a lot of time.It’s not real football. And these kids have been doing it since they were 15 and they know how to get over it. They’re not variables – they just throw it in the air. decisions, or when you pocket them – that’s the league. That’s what the NFL needs. If you can’t do that, you’re not going to get it overnight in the NFL, and you’re always going to miss it. you can’t see that in a player and there’s not much in the video – let’s say Trevor (Lawrence) on example, and there were other guys, Dwayne Haskins comes to mind, I think he was touched as if he was 18 years old in his final year. It was funny how many times he was in the disputed pocket. If you overlook these things, then you will have a big margin of error with the missed guy. “
Q: How do you rate quarterbacks who went to smaller schools like Josh Allen and Trey Lance?
SCANGARELLO: “One of my favorite things about quarterbacks in history, middle and small schools Power 5 – they’ve been some of the best players in this league throughout history. And when you can take a quarterback who’s a multi-year starter in middle school study, for example, and he can raise them to a level they’re never seasons of – say they’re an average program and then suddenly win titles at a conference or competition for two years – it tells me that quarterback has the ability to raise everyone around For Josh Allen in Wyoming, the two years he was there, they won more games than probably ever in the history of that program. They never had a season with eight wins. I think they had one or two in the entire history of the program. That tells me that the guy is a winner and has the ability to elevate the people around him. Those things are important to me. “
Q: What other features of quarterback are not negotiable for you?
Scroll to Continue
SCANGARELLO: “If you have any aspirations to play type 1, it’s better to have been a college freshman for many years. For me, experience and taking photos and what you do when you’re in charge and managing those representatives are so important. You’re out, you’re one year old guy, it’s very hard for you to just jump in and play in the league.You just haven’t played enough football to perfect your craft.So I’m always looking for guys who have a lot of starts.Do they care about football in those moments when you could step aside or create positive games? Do they make smart decisions in critical situations? How do they play in two minutes? There are guys I’ve judged on recent drafts where they’re on such good teams in Ohio or in these other schools really important in their whole career. Give me a guy who played a lot of games with one result and found a way to win, and show me in those situations how forced he is. “
Q: What do you think of Kenny Pickett?
SCANGARELLO: “You could throw him into the mold of Mac Jones. He’s a longtime starter, he took Pitt into some real high-level game, he was very good with the ball, he’s solid, he’s good under duress, he won big games in clutch – all these things feel good … What is an elite trait? Do you want a guy who throws hard and 70 yards or a guy who runs really fast, or do you want a guy who throws with anticipation, on time, allows YAC, processes, natural leader, those qualities? “
Let’s summarize what Scangerallo said he appreciated:
1. A quarterback who faced heavy pressure in his pocket during college and was no wonder for Pro Day (i.e. not the Lance. The state of North Dakota had great pass protection, and he also had a phenomenal Pro Day).
2. Quarterback who raised their program (i.e. not Lance. The State of North Dakota is the best program in the FCS. Every year they compete for the title of champion no matter who their quarterback is).
3. Quarterback who was a starter for many years (i.e. not Lance. He started in North Dakota in 2019 and then played just one game in 2020 due to the pandemic and then signed up for the draft).
4. Quarterback who progressed in two-minute situations in college (i.e. not Lance. He is known to have had zero two-minute situations in North Dakota).
5. Quarterback like Mac Jones or Kenny Pickett (i.e. Not Lance).
It seems clear that when Scangarello was talking about quarterbacks with high drafts failing, he was describing Lance. And if Scangarello truly believes that Lance will fail, then the 49ers should have gotten rid of Scangarello and replaced him with someone who thinks Lance can be great.
Too bad the 49ers wasted the first year of Lance’s development under Scangarell’s pessimistic view.