Why Have our Last Two Promising QB Prospects Flamed Out?

Kap was a gimmick that caught the world by surprise and was never really taught to do anything else so when the world caught on things didnt go well. Jimmy is injury prone and never had plus arm talent. He is a relatively decent starter when healthy but rarely is healthy. I don't think either was ever truly elite material. Kap had an outside chance, but he had to change a LOT about his game to get there and we were not interested in living with those growing pains. Jimmy is capable enough to manage already great teams, but isn't the kind of franchise guy who you can trust to put the game on his back, and really I think will miss even more games as he ages which is scary considering he plays about half the time now.

Originally posted by TheXFactor:
One was a Taysom Hill type QB and the other can't stay healthy and rarely throws past 10 yards.

I thought he was talking about Alex Smith and Kap, not Jimmy and Kap. Never really considered Jimmy a "prospect".

CK7 was a one trick pony back when RG3 was tearing up the league read/option was the flavor of the week once D's figured it out those guys were toast. Meanwhile JG crushed it and is a 2x Super Bowl winning 3x Super Bowl appearing face of the franchise QB and FedEx Player of the Week nominee.

Originally posted by BleedsRedNGold:
We thought Kap was the one. He signed his #KAP2020 deal and we thought we had our QB of the future. I remember watching games and him looking unstoppable with accurate passes, timely QB scrambles and explosive plays. I literally thought in 2014 that we could beat anyone. And then it fell apart. It's not just the team fell apart, Kap looked like a shell of himself, like he didn't know how to play QB. The "yips game" against the Cards where he threw like three pick sixes was dumbfounding. Then the following game against the Packers where it looked like Kap was afraid to throw. What happened there? Were there personal issues in his life affecting the field? Was he just not committed to being a better player? Was the team as a whole a cluster-F?

Or maybe we as fans had on rose colored-glasses and saw what we wanted to see.

Then there was Jimmy. In 2017 he looked magical. That sexy quick release, the way we moved effortlessly up and down the field and Jimmy was doing all of this with just a "Cliff Notes" version of Kyles offense. Imagine what he would do with a full grasp of the offense. Then Jimmy just kept getting hurt. The 2018 season should have been the season where Jimmy had to put it all together, make a ton of "rookie mistakes" and we win 10 games and get a wild card berth. But instead he got injured. Prior to that injury, Jimmy was fearless. He'd actually look to scramble and pick up yards with his legs and extend plays. He looked explosive too and illusive in the pocket? What happened? Is the team just snake-bitten?

Or maybe, again, we had on rose-colored glasses. Maybe Jimmy was the same Jimmy he is now, it's just that we were comparing it against Beathard and Mullens. Jimmy was still throwing the same bonehead ints in 2017 and 2018, we just ignored it, maybe.

Why so many false starts, with our last two QBs? Why will Trey be different?

Or you can say why are we so lucky we have 3 hall of fame QB's.

But to answer your question, it's *damn* hard to find starter level QB's, let alone legendary QB levels like Joe or Steve. I've been spoiled by great QB play, to tell you the truth. I expect all future 49er QB's to throw the sprint right option and make that throw to the X receiver for a winning TD 100% of the time! Look at Fat Andy, sticking with Donovan McNabb for 10 years! Sheesh! How about Marve Levey, he never could get over the hump with Jim Kelly. I think Kaep and Jimmy just were players that simply didn't make the cut, like a ton of other players that couldn't, it's just that simple. Both were above average QB's, but just a notch below legendary in a sense.

I love how Kyle isn't going to stand for losing the Super Bowl the way Marve Levey did, and went out and got his John Elway vs staying with Jim Kelly.

Kap was a hard worker in the wrong area for a QB - the weight room. On the field, I thought the team did him no favors giving him a bunch of slow WRs. There was that one year the WRs were Boldin, Crabtree, and Stevie Johnson, all good WRs, but all with similar skillsets as possession WRs. Kap needed speed outside of Vernon Davis, and when the team got Torrey Smith, they forgot how to pass protect so that didn't work.

Jimmy has his own thread where we've already discussed it all.

Still trying to figure out why Jim Druckenmiller flamed out

Despite their shortcomings both got us to SBs and both had legitimate opportunities to win championships.

If either had won their legacies would be way different right now. Nobody considers Flacco or Foles "flameouts" bc they won championships. Theres a certain respect theyre always given and Jimmy and/or Kap would have had at least that if they had won.

I think there's a mental hump you clear when you win a SB. It makes returning easier because you know you can win. Neither QB won so their legacies kinda tanked. Now if Lance makes it we really need to win so we can get over the hump and have a chance at possibly getting another one shortly after.

Originally posted by Brucey72:
Kap had all the talent in the world but couldn't read a defense. Teams caught on pretty quick and realized that if you could keep him in the pocket he couldn't succeed. At the beginning he benefited from teams not knowing how to defend fast QBs but then the league figured it out. He would have a lot less success in 2022 because teams already know how to beat guys like him. That is why guys like Allen and Jackson are so valuable because they are dynamic runners but can beat you with his arm. The play that stands out to me the most about Kap's inability to read a defense is the infamous Torrey Smith play against the Rams I believe where literally no one was over top of him and Kap ignored him leaving Smith to jump up and down.

Jimmy's downfall was injuries. He has a quick release and is good at making quick reads. He wasn't dynamic enough to keep up with the league unfortunately. His talent level(not his injury proneness) is more of a 70s or 80s talent where dinking and dunking down the field was enough. It is not enough today because it has become a passing league due to the rules and the QBs in the league right now are so talented, he just can't keep up.

I agree with this as well. QBs like Josh Allen are just physical specimens who are elusive and have rocket arms.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Still trying to figure out why Jim Druckenmiller flamed out

Elvis Grbac looked good too. Whatever happend to him?

Because they picked the wrong player

Quarterbacks do not operate in a vacuum. They don't just become great on their own. They need a FO that puts a balanced and reasonable amount of talent around them. Without that, opponents figure them out and shut them down. Thl noted that with Kaepernick.

They also need coaches that put them in systems that allow them to grow. Harbaugh was certainly deficient in that regard. His Bo Schembechler offense did little to encourage CK to work on his mechanics - to put touch on the ball, and all the rest.

If you want a quarterback to become a good passer, you must put him in a system that stresses passing and coach him up for it. You can't leave him in a run-first offense and expect him to make great throws on the relatively few occasions when such things are needed. We saw how that worked out with Kaepernick. I've expressed my opinion on that matter in the Garoppolo thread on the same topic.

Let's hope Kyle stresses passing with Trey Lance, and not just use him as another running option.

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Still trying to figure out why Jim Druckenmiller flamed out

That was such a bad pick. Jake Plummer was the obvious choice, he was the Walsh backed choice and the team instead wanted the massive, lumbering pocket passer that had a cannon arm but struggled to hit the broadside of the barn with his passes.

They screwed up that draft so badly. They ended up with Druckenmiller, Marc Edwards and Greg Clark. They could have easily walked out wit:

Jake Plummer, Sam Madison or Corey Dillon

Jason Taylor or Ronde Barber.

Mike Vrabel or Derrick Mason.

The best QB's out of the draft class ended up being Plummer and undrafted Jake Delhomme.

Originally posted by BleedsRedNGold:

Originally posted by 49erFaithful6:
Still trying to figure out why Jim Druckenmiller flamed out

Elvis Grbac looked good too. Whatever happend to him?

He didn't flame out he graduated to the SF QB retirement home located in KC.

Originally posted by thl408:
Kap was a hard worker in the wrong area for a QB - the weight room. On the field, I thought the team did him no favors giving him a bunch of slow WRs. There was that one year the WRs were Boldin, Crabtree, and Stevie Johnson, all good WRs, but all with similar skillsets as possession WRs. Kap needed speed outside of Vernon Davis, and when the team got Torrey Smith, they forgot how to pass protect so that didn't work.

Jimmy has his own thread where we've already discussed it all.

It would be an interesting thought experiment to theorize what Kaepernick would have done with Kittle, Aiyuk, Deebo, Mitchell, Jauan, as a QB passer. My thought is that Kaepernick would still have some defensive reading problems, but would be much more productive than he would have been in the 2012 season. In other words, he'd have improved from that year if he had the receivers that currently Trey has.