The San Francisco 49ers on Thursday made North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft.
While it doesn’t come as a huge surprise, the selection does run against the popular notion leading up to the draft that Alabama’s Mac Jones would be the pick.
It was a two-horse race between those two signal callers according to multiple reports, and Lance did enough during the 49ers’ pre-draft evaluation to eclipse his counterpart.
Lance checks a ton of boxes for a franchise quarterback on paper. He’s 6-4, 224 pounds with a ton of arm strength, tremendous athleticism, and he comes from an NDSU program that required him to be under center a lot, make checks at the line of scrimmage, and turn his back to the defense on play-action passes.
The biggest question mark on Lance as a prospect is his pro readiness, and how he’ll adjust to a higher level of competition. The 20-year-old started only 17 college games, all at the FCS level, and threw just 318 passes.
Lance was prolific in those 17 starts though. The former Bison quarterback completed 65.4 percent of his throws for 2,947 yards, 30 touchdowns and just one interception. He also rushed 192 times for 1,325 yards and 18 touchdowns.
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