ESPN’s Bowen believes Trey Lance to the 49ers is a perfect fit
May 10, 2021 at 11:11 AM
•
ESPN's Matt Bowen wrote a feature that looks at the rookies from the 2021 draft class who
ended up landing with the perfect fit. The writer notes how important scheme fit and coaching are to the development of a young player. Match a prospect with the perfect coach or system for the said prospect, and you have an ideal fit.
The first rookie mentioned among Bowen's 10 listed prospects is
Trey Lance, who the San Francisco 49ers selected at No. 3 overall. The Lance-49ers pairing is the writer's favorite among the five first-round quarterbacks.
"Let's focus on the arm talent and processing ability of Lance in Kyle Shanahan's play-action-heavy pass game," Bowen explained. "Back in 2019, when Lance led North Dakota State to an undefeated season and the FCS national title, he averaged 10.6 yards per attempt on play-action throws, with 16 touchdown passes and no interceptions, according to ESPN Stats & Information."
Lance ended up with 2,786 passing yards, 28 total touchdown passes, and no interceptions on all of his throws that season while adding 1,100 rushing yards and 14 touchdown runs on 169 carries.
"The play-action mechanics jump on Lance's college tape, and so does his decision-making," Bowen continued. "In Shanahan's system, Lance can read it out, making layered throws to intermediate windows and attacking vertically on scripted deep-ball shots. Plus, with the physical element he brings to the position, expect Shanahan to scheme Lance on designed rushes, where he averaged 6.8 yards per carry in 2019."
Bowen adds that the recently-turned-21-year-old quarterback has a steep learning curve in his transition to the NFL but loves that it will take place in Santa Clara with Shanahan. Not only will Lance benefit from the 49ers coach's scheme and creative play creation. Thanks to the athletic Lance, Shanahan will be able to do things with his offense that he hasn't been able to do in the past.
Lance was the only quarterback mentioned on Bowen's list. However, the writer mentioned another 49ers rookie among his five value picks who could make an early impact. That would be running back Trey Sermon, one of the team's two third-round selections.
"The 49ers will use multiple backs under Shanahan, but Sermon has the upside of a RB1 given his pro running style in a zone-heavy system," wrote Bowen. "Go to Sermon's tape versus Northwestern and Clemson last season. That's where we saw his ability to find daylight, using his one-cut running style on outside zone schemes, plus the contact balance -- which is a critical factor at the position.
"Sermon broke 24 tackles and averaged 3.64 yards after first contact last season. The 49ers got solid value here for a back who can handle volume in the pros."
Facebook Comments
More San Francisco 49ers News
Sean Payton believes 49ers will eventually replace Trey Lance with Jimmy Garoppolo
Former NFL coach Sean Payton is the latest to toss criticism Trey Lance's way (h/t Tom Dierberger of NBC Sports Bay Area), following some harsh words from another former NFL coach, Mike Martz. Actually, Payton's comments came before Martz's but started to make their rounds around social media today.
Payton believes the San Francisco 49ers will eventually replace their second-year quarterback with veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, the former starter now serving as Lance's backup.
As for Martz, he was less-than-impressed by Lance's first outing as a full-time
49ers-Bears: How Kyle Shanahan, Trey Lance, Nick Bosa reacted to disappointing Week 1 loss
Well, that was disappointing to watch. Not just for fans but the San Francisco 49ers. Head coach Kyle Shanahan watched as his team surrendered a 10-point lead and suffered a second-half collapse to the Chicago Bears. The matchup many felt would be a gimme for the Niners in their opener ended in a 19-10 defeat and an 0-1 start to the season.
What was Shanahan's message to his team after the game? The coach didn't see anything wrong with his players' efforts. There were just too many costly mistakes on which Chicago ended up capitalizing.
"First thing, it starts out with is the intent and how hard everybody goes," Shanahan said. "I never felt anything wrong with that throughout the game, but you're not going to win a lot of games when you miss those opportunities
49ers QB Trey Lance says he 'made too many mistakes' in loss to Bears
Trey Lance kept his head up after losing his first start as the San Francisco 49ers' No. 1 quarterback, but it's obvious he felt at least somewhat responsible for his team's collapse in their 19-10 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday.
Lance was far from the only 49ers player to make costly miscues in the loss, as the 49ers committed 12 penalties to go with a number of other unforced errors while blowing a 10-point second half lead after being in control for much of the game. But Lance provided a laundry list of mistakes in his media session after the game, blaming himself for a key turnover, a few missed throws (most notably an overthrow of tight end Tyler Kroft on a possible scoring play in the first half) and a sack that may have taken points off the
Jerry Rice: Trey Lance not to blame for 49ers' loss to Bears
Don't put all the blame from Sunday's Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears on the shoulders of Trey Lance. That was the message from Hall of Fame wide receiver and San Francisco 49ers icon Jerry Rice during his weekly interview on 95.7 The Game.
"I'm sure Trey, he would love to have that interception back," Rice said on The Morning Roast. "He missed a couple of throws; the one he overthrew to the tight end. But I felt like he played OK. I feel like he did enough to win that football game. And you've got to look at what happened with the Chicago Bears. They sort of won that game the last five minutes left in that ballgame."
Lance finished the game 13-of-28 for 164 yards, an interception, and a passer rating of 50.3. While he started two games last season in a
