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Trey Lance is headed to San Francisco.
The 49ers, who boldly traded up in NFL Draft 2021 from the 12th pick to No. 3 last month in a trade with the Dolphins, took their quarterback of the future. The move puts the 49ers in position to deal incumbent quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, possibly in a return to his former team, the New England Patriots, who owned the No. 15 pick in the draft.
The Niners also could have chosen Alabama’s Mac Jones or Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
They acquired the pick from Miami on March 26 in exchange for the No. 12 pick, a first-rounder and third-rounder in 2022 and a first-round pick in 2023. The Dolphins then flipped No. 12 to the Eagles to move up back to No. 6.
The 49ers were one of the teams linked to Aaron Rodgers earlier on Thursday with reports that they had reached out to the Packers about acquiring the disgruntled veteran.
At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds with a 40-yard dash time of 4.5 seconds, the Niners clearly believe Lance’s athleticism will translate to the NFL.
Lance, who played only 17 collegiate games, became the second North Dakota State quarterback selected in the first three picks of the draft in six years, joining Carson Wentz, who went second overall to the Eagles in 2016.
“Really emotional, just super thankful for everyone in the Green Room with me and everyone who got me to this point. I’m very blessed to be here,” Lance said on ESPN. “I’m super excited to be part of the organization…it was awesome to get to know Coach Shanahan a little bit, I didn’t get to know him too much, but he’s an awesome dude and obviously what he’s done on the field speaks for itself.”
The selection of Lance comes 16 years after the 49ers famously passed on Rodgers with the No. 1 pick to select Alex Smith. Now, the 49ers hope they picked the right quarterback of the future.
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