The San Francisco 49ers can see the potential talent in their first-round pick, Trey Lance. It's what led the team to trade up to select the quarterback with the No. 3 overall pick.
The rookie's teammates have praised the 21-year-old, who lacks a lot of collegiate experience heading into his first NFL season. Lance started 17 games for North Dakota State but faced lesser competition than some bigger programs and has played in just one game since January of 2020.
Jimmy Garoppolo is the frontrunner to be the 49ers' Week 1 starter and could hold onto the job for all of 2021, assuming he can remain healthy. However, Lance is proving to be a hard worker, evident by the several workout videos posted during the team's "time off," and could prove to be a quick study.
Fred Warner joined 95.7 The Game on Friday and was asked about Lance and what the star linebacker has seen from the rookie quarterback.
"I think he's great," Warner told Damon Bruce and John Dickinson. "The fact that he's come in and he's handled himself the way he has, I wouldn't say it's common amongst rookies, just to have that demeanor."
Lance enters training camp as the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart. He could remain there all season, giving the young player more time to absorb and master head coach Kyle Shanahan's playbook and get acclimated to the pace of the NFL. There is no pressure to get him onto the football field quickly. Unless circumstances change, Lance won't need to take over until he is completely ready. Maybe that won't be until 2022.
Still, the talent is obvious. The 49ers could have a star in the making.
"He's come in; you can see the talent," Warner continued. "The ball jumps out of his hand. He's very talented. You could see he's young. He has a lot of potential to work with, so that's obviously extremely intriguing to not only the team but to the fans and everyone. I'm very excited about his growth and where he's going to go."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Warner below.